Losses caused by road accidents reached LE20 billion in 2014, compared to LE17 billion in 2013, marking a 17.6 percent increase, said Ali Selim, transportation minister adviser to the roads and bridges sector.
Speaking to the Turkish Anadolu Agency, Selim said around 60,000 accidents occurred in 2014 nationwide leaving 13,000 killed and injured.
According to estimates by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), the number of accidents in 2013 reached 15,000, killing 6,717 people and injuring 2,241 others.
One of the more serious accidents occurred in November 2014, when 19 people including students were killed and 18 others were injured as school bus hit a vehicle loaded with petroleum products. The accident was followed by the government’s approval to make immediate amendments to the traffic law.
Following the accident, Selim added that the government also approved reviving the Supreme Council for Security and Safety on the Road, which was to be established in 2002, without the decision being enforced.
The government, according to Selim, raised around 43 recommendations to stop deaths caused by car accidents.
Egypt has the world’s highest traffic accidents rate, according to a November report by the World Health Organization.
Nearly 100,000 car accidents took place from 2008 to 2012, leaving almost 33,000 dead and 155,000 injured, according to a government report released in March.
Traffic accidents are usually blamed on impetuous driving and bad road conditions.
Edited translation from Anadolu Agency
