CAIRO - Last month, there were 300 casualties in road accidents in the Red Sea Governorate, about 300km from Cairo, 100 of the tourists from other countries. The Traffic Police blame the accidents on reckless driving and poorly maintained roads. Abdel-Basset Baluzi, a member of the Red Sea Local Council, says that all the officials in the governorate are to blame. He wonders why the roads there aren't maintained. “Parliamentarians in the Shura Council and the People's Assembly haven't done anything about this either, while the local hospitals are also in a terrible state,” he adds. “There was an accident involving a bus in Ras Ghareb City, Red Sea Governorate, recently. Fifty people were killed or injured and the hospitals there couldn't cope.” Mohamed Hamdia, another member of the council, calls for more traffic lights and more checks on motorists, as several accidents have been caused by drivers high on drugs. He also stresses the need to light main roads, especially the Cairo- Hurghada and Safaga-Qena highways. Saad Eddin Amin, the head of Ras Ghareb Local Council, says that the 100km-long road between Zaafarana and Ras Ghareb witnesses many tragic accidents, as it's a wide road and reckless motorists speed along it. “Meanwhile, some lorry drivers stop at a cafeteria on the road, where they do an oil change. The oil makes the road slippery and can also cause accidents,” warns Amin. “Lorry drivers must be stopped from using this road, even if the cafeteria has to be shut down. However, Amin denies that there are problems with the roads, stressing that they are regularly maintained. Ibrahim Mansour, the head of Safaga Local Council, told the Al- Masry Al-Youm local newspaper that the drivers are to blame in every case for the road accidents. “The Red Sea Governorate's roads are among the best in Egypt – the accidents are always due to the human factor,” he claimed, adding that most accidents occur in the early morning or late at night. “Another problem is that the drivers of some of the tourist buses drive non-stop for 20 hours.” Meanwhile, Dr Mohamed Sarhan, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health for the Red Sea Governorate, denies any medical negligence when dealing with road accidents. “We have ambulances which deal with any crisis immediately,” says Dr Sarhan, stressing that ambulances arrived only five minutes after the above-mentioned bus accident, as the tourists who were rescued will testify. Red Sea Governor Magdi Qubeissi says that motorists are responsible for 90 per cent of the accidents, calling on the Ministry of Transport to widen the Safaga-Qena and Qusseir- Mersa Allam highways.
