The Egyptian government has approved a long-awaited draft traffic law that is set to introduce new regulations for the issue of driving licences and heavier penalties for traffic violators.
The new law aims to improve traffic safety and reduce the number of road accidents, in addition to preventing traffic bottlenecks, said a Cabinet statement.
Egypt’s Transport Minister Hisham Arafat said that the proposed new law would replace the current traffic law, issued in 1973, reported Egypt Today. The minister stressed that the country has experienced many changes since the 1970s. “There have been many changes from 1973 to 2017; we need a new law,” he said.
The main reason for traffic deaths is personal behaviour, said Mr Arafat at a media briefing, noting that “about 96% of road accidents occur due to driving behaviours and attitudes towards traffic safety”.
The draft law would see a new penalty point system put in place whereby licence holders would be deducted a number of points each time a traffic violation is committed. Once a traffic violator’s points run out, their driver’s licence would be suspended for a period of 30 days. In order for the driver to get their licence back, they need to enrol in an accredited driving school.
Besides the huge number of cars on the roads – over 11 million registered vehicles according to the country’s official statistics agency Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) – which contributes to debilitating bottlenecks, accidents are also a daily occurrence. The price tag for road accidents alone stood at EGP30.5 billion (US$1.7 billion) in 2015, according to CAPMAS. In 2016, the number of road accidents was 14,710, an increase of 1.1% compared with 14,548 for 2015. A total of 5,343 people were killed and 18,646 others injured as a result of traffic accidents in 2016, while 21,089 vehicles were destroyed, reported Al-Ahram.
Insurers welcome the draft law which, when passed, could lead to a reduction in the number of motor accidents and consequently the amounts of compensation payable by insurers. M
EGP1 = US$0.06