CAIRO - Street vendors are causing chaos in Egypt. They are a terrible nuisance for pedestrians and motorists alike, hindering their movement in the streets and squares of the capital and even on the 26th July Corridor and the Greater Cairo Ring Road. Another problem is posed by the thugs, who force motorists to pay them money. Salah Abdel-Wahab, a senior officer in the Traffic Police, says that there are four police stations on the Cairo-Alexandria Desert Road, each responsible for a 50km stretch of this busy highway. There's a similar set-up on the Ismailia-Suez Desert Road. According to Abdel-Wahab, motorists who have been threatened have only to ring the police at these stations, who will immediately spring into action. “We have already had a lot of successes. We recently arrested three armed thugs riding a motorbike,” he says. “We also appeal to motorists to co-operate with the Traffic Police and for lorries not to use the Ring Road, because they are too heavy.” He adds that one lorry driver insulted police officers who tried to prevent him from driving up a sliproad onto the Ring Road, but other motorists intervened and the driver was arrested. Amer Gamgoum, the head of Cairo Traffic Department, says that many drivers are guilty of double parking in busy roads and ignoring red lights. “Things have got worse since the recent revolution, because motorists can now get away with traffic violations without being punished,“ he adds. “Three weeks ago, we started a campaign against motorists who'd put revolutionary number plate stickers on their vehicles, hiding their real number plates, so they could get away with traffic violations.” As for traffic congestion, Ayman el-Dabaa, a commerce student, says microbuses drivers are to blame, as well as cars parking illegally. “Pedestrians walking in the streets are another problem, as well as protesters holding sit-ins in busy places like Al Tahrir Square,” he explains.
