CAIRO - Anybody who walks about Cairo in particular will notice how anarchy dominates the streets, it's exactly like watching a soap opera or a movie on satellite or TV. One scene is often repeated on the Egyptian street: an elderly woman tries to climb onto the pavement, built by someone who ignored older people's needs. Another street scene shows a chase between the municipality and vendors who occupy the pavements illegally. The scene ends when the vendors return to their places once the coast is clear. While there is a comic aspect to this scene, another one is less funny: pedestrians walking in the middle of the street, braving heavy traffic, as it is often impossible to walk on the pavement. Cairo streets have turned into a continuous show, involving many forms of chaos and carelessness, the bad behaviour of people that increases tension and aggression. In a questionnaire conducted by “ The Vehicles Forum” on the Internet about who is behind this anarchy on the Egyptian street, the results showed that negligence in applying the law is the main reason for the chaos in the capital at a rate of 46 per cent, followed by bad behaviour of microbus drivers at 16 per cent, and last but not least the crowds in the streets. The remaining percentages included crazy driving by young people and some women's poor driving styles , in addition to carelessness by pedestrians . In the opinion of taxi driver Sayyed Abdel Moneim, driving is considered important in Egypt, thus all the previously mentioned factors are responsible for street anarchy. Some streets are not even paved and drivers go too fast. Sayyed is also puzzled by the behaviour of pedestrians who ignore oncoming cars and traffic signals. Anwar Fahmi owns a private vehicle and wonders why pedestrians walk on the street instead of the pavement, causing many problems, in addition to cars parked three deep and vendors occupying street space. “Where can you actually drive your car?” Fahmi wonders. Hassan Abdullah, also a taxi driver, wants pedestrians fined for violating traffic rules. “Why do drivers have to pay fines and pedestrians don't?” he asked. On the other hand, pedestrians have expressed their problems too. It's more often than not impossible to walk on the pavement, and people have to disembark from microbuses in the middle of the street. House wife Mervat Ashour noted that pedestrians are not sufficiently provided for, flyovers for example are a big problem for elderly people who cannot get up or down the stairs and therefore cross the road. Safiya el-Sayyed complained that pavements are too high, impossible to climb for some, or only with the assistance of others. Alaa Tharwat, also a pedestrian, appealed to officials to create pedestrian zones as a proper alternative to avoid accidents. In Downtown the suggestion has already been implemented, so there should be no problem in trying this experiment elsewhere. Commenting on this phenomenon, Amal Taha, a professor of sociology at Helwan University, blames the family for all the bad behaviour; failing in its role of educating children and teaching them to respect the rules, such as respecting adults and their rights. Children should be taught 'awareness of morals and ethics , particularly concerning street behaviour , in addition to respecting traffic laws, she added. Taha told Al-Akhbar newspaper that the remarkable deterioration in people's behaviour is reflected in growing violence and crimes committed for entirely trivial reasons. A source at the Traffic Department, who refused to give his name, stated that the Department is sparing no effort to achieve discipline on the street by regulating and improving public transport and increasing the number of safe pedestrian crossings.
