In Roads We Trust?

In the first two parts of our road safety campaign we looked at how despite continuous efforts to promote road safety, the number of fatalities and injuries on Egypt’s roads continue to rise. But accidents can be prevented, and they have to be. More than just a health issue, road safety impacts Egypt on a social and economic level as well, threatening the development of the nation. Unfortunately, as mentioned in last month’s interview with road safety activist Mohamed Sheta, there are no roadworthiness tests applied in Egypt. Which means cars, trucks and buses are getting older, with no official authority inspecting them to see if they are still safe to move goods or people. Gayle Di Petro, global manager of the Global Road Safety Partnership, which is hosted by the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, says it’s not just about the vehicles. “The road safety problem in Egypt is largely because of the way people are choosing to use the roads,” Di Petro says. “Too often road users disobey the law and nothing happens. […] They choose, for example, not to use designated crossings as a pedestrian, to not wear seat belts, to travel at inappropriate speeds when driving, not to maintain vehicles in a road safety manner and to drive how they want to without a care for others using the system.” Di Petro says the government has to take the lead in combatting what has become the number-one public health issue and the second-highest cause of death in Egypt. “Governments have a responsibility to protect the public by establishing a safe systems approach. People will make mistakes, but it is important that the road environment is forgiving, and that legislation covers dangerous or harmful aspects of travel, and that strong and strategic enforcement is backed up by significant fines for disobeying the law to discourage the road user from making mistakes again,” explains Di Petro. The obstacles may seem insurmountable, but road safety is achievable if the involved parties just work together to take action. WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE According to Sheta, there are many short-, mid- and long-term steps on different levels that need to be taken to improve road safety and reduce the risk of accidents.       “First of all, the Egyptian government needs to have the determination to announce a ‘master plan’ for reducing the number of accidents and road deaths, keeping in mind solely the benefit of the Egyptian consumer and not the benefit of any other group of people, former government officials, ministries or companies,”says Sheta.  “This master plan should be under the auspices and direct supervision of the Egyptian Prime Minister and not under any supervision of the existing ministries.” He believes the master plan should be funded and drafted in close cooperation with the European Union and Japan, which in the past have sided with Egypt through the EU Twinning Program and the Japan International Cooperation Agency in dealing with the road safety crisis. Sheta stresses that the six main ministries involved with road safety (Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Finance and Customs Authority, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Transportation) must sit at one table and coordinate their needs and tasks to be able to synchronize future plans. This of course goes hand in hand with public media awareness campaigns covering all governorates to target all the different types of road users. “People need to get involved and take the initiative of doing something about road safety,” says Marwan Hammad, chairman of the Egyptian Society for Road Safety (ESRS). “I am a believer that we need to focus on the youth because they are more likely to learn and adapt safe road practices if you teach them early on about the hazards [related to] road safety.” Although ESRS’s broader mission as an NGO is to reduce the staggering number of fatalities and injuries on the nation’s roads, they are currently channeling their focus on one specific area. “Road safety is such a huge issue, so we decided our focus was to be pedestrian crossings, when it came to both making sure there are the correct signs and that people’s behavior coincided with it — for both vehicles and pedestrians. We wanted people to be aware of the rules,” says ESRS member Ebtehal Shawky. “So many people don’t know this stuff. They don’t know that the white lines are a crossing and that vehicles must stop at it. People even don’t understand stop signs.” Shawky says that this shows how inadequate the national initiatives have been, despite the numerous efforts. “Everyone is working in isolation. All the involved parties need to listen to each other to come up with a solution to help Egyptian citizens. They need to feel their government is doing something for them.”