Accidents decline 26.8 percent due to National Roads Project

CAIRO – 23 December 2017: Road accidents decreased by 26.8 percent because of the National Roads Project launched in August 2014, which was part of President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi’s program, Minister of Transportation Hisham Arafat affirmed to Egypt Today.

The National Roads Project includes 39 roads with a total length of 4,400 km at an investment of LE 36 billion ($2 billion).

The minister explained on Saturday that accidents on main roads, which connect governorates together, decreased by higher rates than on local ones. He added that the rate of accidents on some main roads is still high, such as Cairo/Western Asyut and Asyut/Western Sohag roads. These two and others will be developed within the third phase of the project.

Arafat estimates that the rate of road accidents would decrease by a further 15 percent after the last stage of Regional Ring Road is finished. That road starts from Alexandria and ends in Asyut, passing through the governorates of Giza, Qalyubiya, Sharqia and Menoufia.

The minister revealed that Egypt is working on joining the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, which is an international treaty designed to facilitate international road traffic and increase road safety by establishing standard traffic rules among the contracting parties. It came into force on May 21, 1977 and is ratified by 74 countries.

In parallel, training centers will be established to raise the awareness of drivers and perfrom surprise drug tests for drivers, as human factor contributes to road accidents by 75 percent. As such, an integrated system will be put into effect to avoid road accidents through roadway development on one hand while spreading awareness among drivers on the other hand.