CAIRO -

Road accidents in Egypt continue to cast a dark shadow over the number of injured and dead every year, despite the state's efforts to develop the infrastructure of roads, axes and bridges, which brought it a lot of criticism, whether because of the huge spending on it or caused the demolition of homes and plots. trees.

The number of road accident deaths has risen again alarmingly, according to the annual bulletin of the results of car and train accidents for the year 2021, as it jumped to 7101 deaths in 2021 compared to 6,164 deaths in 2020, an increase of 15.2%.

The bulletin issued by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics, last Tuesday, indicated that the number of injuries decreased to 51,511 injuries, compared to 56,789 injuries in 2020, a decrease of 9.3%.

The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics reveals that 7101 deaths were recorded as a result of road accidents in Egypt during 2021, an increase of 15.2% from 2020, in addition to the registration of 51,511 injuries pic.twitter.com/co0rHH4Vaw

— Monitor Network (@RassdNewsN) July 26, 2022

Huge road spending

This steady increase in the number of road casualties comes despite what was revealed by the book "Vision and Achievement", which includes development projects in Egypt during the period from June 30, 2014 to June 30, 2021, regarding the size of the mega projects implemented by the state during this period in the sector Transport.

Official statistics indicate that Egypt has spent 1.3 trillion Egyptian pounds (about $84 billion) on road and bridge projects, railway development, subway lines and electric traction during the last 7 years, from 2014 to 2021.

According to the same book, the state’s plan includes the construction of a new road network with lengths of 7,000 km, in addition to 10,000 km of road lengths to be duplicated and upgraded, in addition to 1,000 bridges and tunnels, and 22 upper axes to connect the east and west of the Nile to the Upper and Lower Egypt, as well as the development of the railway network. Iron and subway.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi went further than this figure in the transport sector. During his meeting with a number of media professionals, following the inauguration of a number of transport projects on July 3, he estimated the volume of spending on the transport sector at about one trillion and 700 billion pounds.

Local newspapers and websites say that despite the great efforts made by the Egyptian state to improve and develop the transport sector, road accidents are a major crisis whose victims in Egypt exceed the number of victims in industrialized countries by about 10 times.

The number of train accidents reached 978 in 2021 compared to 898 in 2020, an increase of 8.9%, which led to the death of 405 people, compared to 296 deaths, an increase of 36.8%, while the number of injured reached 769 compared to 525 injured, an increase of 46.5%.

terrible accidents

And this month, Egypt witnessed horrific accidents, as 25 people were killed and 35 others injured in a collision between a bus carrying 50 passengers and a truck in Minya Governorate (300 km south of Cairo) amid official Arab condolences to Egypt.

In an unfortunate incident that evoked widespread sympathy in the Egyptian street, 4 children drowned and 13 others were injured in a bus accident in the Salam Canal on the road between the governorates of Damietta and Dakahlia.

The bus was carrying 30 children who had memorized the Holy Qur’an, and local media said that they were carrying the Qur’an in their hands when it sank after winning a competition for memorizing the Qur’an.

The Sheikh of Al-Azhar, Imam Ahmed Al-Tayeb, mourned the victims, directed the disbursement of urgent financial aid to their families, and assigned an Azhar delegation to offer condolences.

The accident came after another tragic incident, in which 7 children - including 6 siblings - were killed in a "trocycle" accident in a canal in Luxor Governorate, in the south of the country.

One of them was devastated by the fire.. A number of transport vehicles overturned on the Central Road near the Autostrad tunnel pic.twitter.com/wMNw1aXFe5

— Al Jazeera Egypt (@AJA_Egypt) July 26, 2022

Development alone is not enough

This paradox between the development of roads and the high number of victims prompted experts and observers to criticize the large spending on the development of the road and transport network and the accompanying removal of many trees, streets and residential neighborhoods, and its focus on linking new and remote cities, which do not suffer from overcrowding, compared to the volume of spending Much less in the areas of congestion and overcrowding in the Delta and the Nile Valley, despite that witnessing frequent and fatal accidents.

In this context, Cairo Governorate alone continues to remove about 1,000 properties in 6 areas, due to the fact that these properties conflict with the path of a number of axes or roads, including areas in the Old Cairo and Al-Matareya districts, and others in the Almaza area, east of the capital.

A former member of the Transport and Communications Committee in the Egyptian Parliament, Mohamed Farag, believes that “the continued occurrence of many victims in road accidents confirms that the development of the road network or its increase or the intensification of traffic penalties is not enough, and the speed of response to accidents on the roads must be increased through the spread of ambulance and rescue centers, and the development of devices Monitoring, tracking and advising.

Farag explained, in statements to Al-Jazeera Net, that attention should be paid to developing the road network in areas of overcrowding between the cities of the Delta and Upper Egypt, and working to provide the areas where most of the governorates of the Republic are located with sufficient tools, devices and human elements, to monitor roads and provide urgent services, and without them the series will continue. Asphalt bleeds in alarming numbers.

The distress of the residents of Almaza housing after their displacement from their homes pic.twitter.com/SlJvImPCrc

— Eman Farid (@Emy4freedom) July 20, 2022

The human element is primarily responsible

The traffic and traffic safety planning and engineering consultant, Major General Dr. Ayman Al-Dabaa, attributes the causes of accidents and the resulting casualties to 3 main reasons: the vehicle, the road and the human element. 80% to 90% of accidents.

In addition to the great development that the country is witnessing in the infrastructure and the transportation and communication network, the hyena indicates that the state has in parallel developed legislation related to traffic laws. In televised statements, he called for the formation of a Higher Council for Road Safety, consisting of several bodies and being independent.

On the other hand, Senator Yasser Al-Hudaybi made a proposal related to increasing the application of safety standards and the application of the black points system in order to confront the series of road accidents that occur due to negligence and recklessness, such as increasing speed, not following traffic instructions, using some narcotics, and lax application of safety standards.

Despite improving the quality of roads in Egypt and raising it to the 28th rank in terms of road quality in the world after it was ranked 188, according to Al-Hudaybi press statements, this did not prevent the increase in asphalt bleeding rates and sounded the alarm, bearing in mind that most of the reports issued by the agency The Central Agency for Mobilization and Statistics indicates that more than 75% of road accidents are caused by the human factor.

In order to reduce the number of accidents and control the movement of vehicles on the roads, the Egyptian government has tightened the penalties for violators of traffic rules.

The Egyptian parliament is close to putting the final touches on amending the new traffic law, which includes heavy penalties and severe new violations, up to imprisonment, fines and driving bans, but - according to observers - it will not be deterrent in light of the lax implementation.

They will raise the prices of trains that are delayed and cause accidents after they have increased the price of tickets for less than a year due to development, and you will find them paint it and call it Long live Egypt.

— Ahmad Eyada (@AhmadEyada93) July 25, 2022

Car accidents in Egypt have become victims of wars https://t.co/nOIYaER0EE

— ARCHITECT (@Arch16543710) July 25, 2022

Deliberate sabotage of the neighborhoods of Heliopolis,


trees disappeared, shadows disappeared, street temperatures rose, and


road accidents increased due to the lack of sidewalks pic.twitter.com/OnAmrgbWW3

— abdalahasanin (@abdalahasanin14) July 25, 2022