The secret behind the exceptionally large number of motorcycles found on the Egyptian streets these days lies in cheap Chinese brands most of which lack standard specifications, as dealers themselves admit. These motorcycles, usually referred to on the street as ‘the machine', are affordable to a slice of society that can buy one for as little as one thousand Egyptian pounds by instalments. One big dealer in the populous area of Boulaq, says the business has flourished since the revolution, buyers taking advantage of the poor security grip on the street. He says that demand is usually high in feast seasons and revealed that the lowest sales target of any shop, for instance in the holy month of Ramadan, would be 200 motorcycles. According to 2009 statistics of the Central Traffic Department around l.5 million licensed motorcycles were running across the country. The fact on the ground as observers say is that the figure is far greater with rough estimates that around 90 per cent lack plates. As indicated in records of the casualty and emergency departments of public hospitals, motorcycle accidents are on the rise. Their casualties are usually among the most critical cases admitted, Dr Shabaan Ashri of Imbaba Public Hospital told Al-Akhbar Arabic daily, adding that such accidents account for 60 to 70 per cent of hospitalised accident cases. He observed that motorcycle owners are mostly young men, aged between l8 to 30, and urged traffic officials to curb the number of licenses issued. Ahmed Mahmoud a 35 unemployed technical-school graduate says that the LE 7,000 motorcycle his wife (the family breadwinner) has recently bought him has enabled him to save his 70-year old mother from squeezing herself into public transport. In addition, he proudly told the Egyptian Gazette “I sometimes take my wife to her work place, which is 20 kilometres away from home, and then drop my four-year old daughter at a nursery in the neighbourhood." However, Rami Hussein an attendant in a motorcycle show room says that motorcycles are not always so advantageous. “Stalkers, harassers and thieves have ill-used these easily-bought machines, causing panic to pedestrians and wrecking havoc on the street." Moreover, motorists already suffering from congested traffic in the capital have been complaining of late of the clamour and chaos caused by motorcycle processions accompanying newly-weds, a phenomenon that has noticeably spread in the post revolution period. Omar Sobhi, a mechanical engineer in a multi-national motorcycle company has no doubt about the substandard safety specifications of Chinese brands and opposes using Chinese-made motorcycles as a personal means of transport. “A poor product as such, abundantly found in shanty towns, is nothing but a killing machine, the import of which should be banned", he stressed.
