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Al-Ahram Weekly 24 - 30 August 2000 Issue No. 496 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 24 - 30 August 2000 Issue No. 496
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters A mounting toll
By Gihan Shahine
In the wee hours of 8 August, vehicles queued up at the toll gate at the entrance of the Cairo-Alexandria desert highway. At the booth, drivers were asked to pay LE2 instead of LE1.25. The increase, toll collectors explained, "is meant to insure your lives against traffic accidents."
"What does this mean?" scoffed one traveller. "Does it mean that you guarantee that we won't have an accident on the road. Or is this just another way of getting more money?"
Earlier, Transport Minister Ibrahim El-Demiri had gone public with the plan to increase road tolls by 75 piastres to provide financing for a life insurance programme covering Egypt's 44,000 kilometres of highways. The increase has already been applied to the main highways: Cairo-Alexandria Desert Road, Cairo-Ismailia-Port Said, Cairo-Fayyoum, Belbeis-Maadi, Qattamiya and Cairo-Ein Al-Sukhna.
The increase in toll proceeds will bring in to the Transport Ministry an estimated LE9 million annually. According to the insurance plan, compensation amounting to a negotiable LE20,000 will be paid to the families of each road fatality. Those injured in highway accidents will be treated at government expense in hospitals affiliated to the Ministry of Health.
The insurance plan, the first ever to be applied in Egypt, was probably brought on by a recent spate of road accidents. According to official figures, 25,000 accidents took place on the nation's motorways in 1999, claiming the lives of 5,400 and injuring 22,000.
"Egypt has chalked up one of the highest road accident rates worldwide," lamented Ahmed Fouad, head of the Transport Ministry's department of roads and fly-overs. "The highway insurance system is applied all over the world and it is high time that we apply it in Egypt. Under this system, the ministry will not only be responsible for insuring road safety, but also for compensating those whose family members fall victim to motor accidents."
The toll increase drew a mixed reaction from the public. Some welcomed the insurance plan as necessary, but others were sceptical.
"The new plan is, no doubt, a positive and humane step on the part of the government," commented Issa Sarhan, head of the public utilities department and professor of traffic and road planning at the Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University. "Collecting money to insure people's lives on highways is a good idea. But, of course, it should go parallel with road maintenance and the imposition of penalties on violating drivers."
Urban planner Milad Hanna thinks the money collected should be channelled to improving road planning and maintenance to reduce the incidence of road accidents. "The government does not need to collect more money from people. And the new insurance plan is ironic. It's as if the government is telling people to die peacefully because the government will compensate their children," he argued.
In response, Fouad said the Transport Ministry has been exerting great efforts to improve highway conditions and that the majority of accidents result from reckless driving.
The ministry has established a national transport safety council to monitor accidents, analyse their causes and work out remedies. Studies show that human error and unsafe driving account for 85 per cent of all road accidents. Technical vehicle problems cause 10 per cent of accidents, while defective road planning is responsible for only five per cent.
"Defective road planning accounts for only a fraction of all accidents," explains Fouad. "Contrary to prevailing belief, a large number of accidents occur on streamlined highways, because motorists are tempted to exceed the speed limit."
According to Fouad, the ministry has come up with a plan to improve highway safety. The plan provides for the installation of large traffic billboards, cat eyes, telephone sets and roadblocks. U-turns will be better planned, extra lanes will be added to some roads and road markers will be painted in phosphorescent colours. El-Demiri has invited the private sector to build seven new highways in accordance with international standards and bids have already been made for three.
"The Ministry of Health is also establishing new emergency centres on highways and the Ministry of the Interior is enforcing the new law on violating drivers," Fouad said.
"What remains is to promote people's awareness of traffic issues," he concluded. "We do our part of the job, but we cannot pre-empt accidents if people continue to drive recklessly in defiance of the law and traffic regulations."
