25 - 31 October 2001
Issue No.557
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 25 - 31 October 2001 Issue No.557 |
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No parking, please
Sherif Sonbol hands out traffic photos
I was desperately plying street after street, sizing up every spare inch of space, searching for a parking spot on a typically crowded day in downtown Cairo. Finally, filled with relief, I spied a stretch of empty space. I looked up and down the sidewalk and found a sign declaring: "Parking allowed in one line along the sidewalk." I parked.
T trampeled under wheels; a police truck parks illegally right beneath a sign that indicates an LE10 fine; the sign that says gibberish; ""private sector" signs; 'no parking' signs ignored; a government authority uses the signs to save parking spaces; stop and go - all at onceSeconds later, I was accosted by an angry police officer barking that parking was prohibited on this street. When I indicated the sign he huffed and puffed and finally called one of the policemen on duty to bring a bucket of paint ... and obliterate the sign.
Officials and citizens alike, while locked in an endless debate about the reasons behind Cairo's crippling traffic problems, wilfully ignore the ramifications of their own actions. In the midst of all our theorising, we seem to have lost track of some of the simple reasons sitting right under our noses -- for example, ignoring "no parking" signs.
After my encounter with the angry police officer, I took it upon myself to take note of Cairo's numerous and unheeded "no parking" signs, only to find that they are possibly the least respected instrument of keeping traffic order. A friend of mine recounted to me how he woke up one morning to find that his whole street had been turned into a no parking zone. Naturally, everyone shouted at the unfortunate policeman whose job it was to make sure everyone abided by the signs. By the second day, the policeman had disappeared. By the end of the week people had torn down the signs.
For some reason "no parking" signs are abundant in places where they are particularly unnecessary, as though there was a budget for such signs that needed to be spent, without much thought going into their actual use. This is not to mention copious numbers of signs bearing either incomprehensible messages or illegible instructions.
One place you can be sure not to find signs, as any Cairo driver will tell you, is a place where "no parking" tickets are being doled out. A telling tale is that of a friend who parked in a seemingly innocent space, only to find she had been given a ticket. When she complained to the officer that there was no sign indicating that parking was prohibited in that area the officer sneered, "Sure, next time we will remember to put up a sign for you," before walking off.
Parking signs are so disrespected that it should come as no surprise that the Government Services Authority in Dokki, which is responsible for government cars, decided to tear down the "no parking" signs on their block and use them to save parking spaces for their vehicles instead.
If the government is a prime violator, then why not its citizens? Although there is a law that prohibits people from putting up chains or using blocks of cement to save parking spaces, we all know this is common practice. The natural progression of affairs was for citizens to make their own "private sector" signs and put them up -- not that they are heeded. I came across one such sign and went to the policeman on the block to inform him of the violation. He just shrugged his shoulders and told me it was not within his jurisdiction to take action -- what else could I do?
I left him and drove towards the traffic light fuming with frustration, only to find both red and green lights on.
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