Egypt has jumped in road quality from 118th place to 28th place in 2019, Transport Minister Kamel al-Waziry announced Wednesday during the Third Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in Sweden running from February 19-20.
Accidents and injuries from accidents have fallen by over half, Waziry said, while deaths have decreased to 46 percent between 2010-2017.
The Egyptian government’s efforts will continue to decrease accidents and save lives, he added.
The Transport Minister is participating in all sessions of the Third Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety conference sessions as a show of the government’s interest in road safety. He will present efforts made in road safety affairs management, traffic and safety improvement and road user safety enhancement.
Waziry will also participate in the African Union’s round table on road safety and security. He is expected to hold meetings with Swedish Infrastructure Minister Tomas Eneroth and the UN Special Envoy for Road Safety Jean Todt
Car accidents have declined by 23.6 percent, recording 8,480 accidents in 2018, compared to 11,089 accidents in 2017, according to Egypt’s Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics’ (CAPMAS) report released in April 2019.
CAPMAS credited the decreasing rates of car accidents to improved roads across the country.
CAPMAS added that accidents in 2018 left 3,087 people dead, 11,803 injured and 13,441 vehicles damaged.
The human element was the main cause of accidents, accounting for 76.8 percent of total accidents in 2018, followed by vehicles accounting for 15.7 percent and the environmental element accounting for 2.7 percent.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
