CAIRO - Cairo always suffers from terrible traffic congestion during the holy fasting month of Ramadan, including many areas where there are places of worship. To try and deal with this chronic problem, traffic campaigns have been launched in a number of parts of the capital, involving the joint efforts of Cairo General Traffic Department, Cairo Governorate, the Utility Police and the Public Transport Authority (PTA). "All bridges, corridors and roads will be manned by traffic officers round the clock, while there will be a lot of mobile traffic patrols,” according to the chief of the Cairo Traffic Department, Serag Zaghloul. Major-General Zaghloul says that teams of three traffic officers will monitor 6th October Bridge, looking out especially for breakdowns. “The teams have wireless devices, so they can call on mechanics to deal with the vehicles that break down. We also now have 50 tow-away vehicles to drag off illegally parked cars,” he says, adding that the traffic policemen are being helped by officials from the PTA, who will make buses drive in the inside lane and not stop haphazardly between the designated stops. Zaghloul describes traffic as a triangle consisting of a vehicle, driver and road; if one side of the triangle isn't straight, the result is chaos. He blames car drivers for most of the problems, because they do not respect the rules. He says that the Traffic Law, enforced two years ago, is great in theory, but most drivers ignore it, just as they did the old law. ”The traffic crisis can also be blamed on the fact that many ministries and governmental bodies are located in the heart of Cairo. A lot of people park outside them, reducing the flow,” he explains. Zaghloul told Al-Mossawer magazine that another problem was the fact that several million people commuted to Cairo from outside the capital each day, either to work or visit the above-mentioned ministries and governmental institutions, causing the traffic to grind to a halt. “There are two rush hours, the first from 8am till 10am and the second from 2pm till 5pm. There will be extra officers on duty at these times,” he stressed, suggesting that the ministries be moved out of Cairo to another city. “Another thing we must do is to get more people to switch from private to public transport. The law is not enough; we also need the goodwill of the people.”
