الموضوع: From Cairo, with love

egypt s traffic culture
If Egypt's traffic problems are solved, all of Egypt's problems will be solved.

I very much believe that. Egypt's traffic is a replica of our society, a big mess --and for the same reasons. Every problem in our society is reflected in our traffic. So if we are capable of fixing our traffic problems, it means that we were able to fix our societal and cultural problems.

Our traffic problem is a contribution of everyone in our society. The government has a big role, the drivers (and pedestrians) have a role, traffic officers have a role, and the law and its skewed enforcement has a role.

The government is totally incapable of devising a proper traffic system, building a safe road infrastructure (which is not about asphalt, but about road signs, traffic lights, lane markers, sidewalks), cannot set a usable traffic law, and is full of corrupt and inept officers. The officers in the street are enfocring a haphazard law that is not well defined. They are enforcing their own whims on drivers who don't know what the law today is, and have to guess if its illegal to park on this side of the road (when there's no sign), or if its illegal to take a left turn (when there's no sign) only to find an officer waiting for them at the end of the street with a violations book. You have to wait for hours if Hosni's parade is passing by, you have to give the right of way to any high ranking official (or foreign visitor) with a Jeep Cherokee entourage pointing machine guns at you.

To survive Egypt's traffic you either have to be powerful with the right connections, be filthy rich, be a thug, or mind your own business avoiding trouble. I end up being a mix of the four, but I try to mind my own business.

The powerful with the right connections will do as they please in our lawless streets, and never pay a fine. The rich, are powerful, they pay bribes, but never pay a fine. The thugs, will do as they please, never questioned, except if the government is short in money and needs some extra revenue. The peaceful and powerless have no business driving in those streets, they're just causing a traffic jam. If you want to save yourself from going insane, or from being one of the above four types of people, then your best mean of interaction with the traffic system (or any other system in Egypt) is through a proxy. Get a driver

Those U-turns which they replaced every major traffic light intersection with, enforces an uncivilized culture of 'survival of the fittest', where you don't wait for your turn, but you take a steep left from the extreme right lane to the extreme left lane, take a U-turn, then another steep right from the extreme left lane to the extreme right lane. No yielding allowed, and there is no right of way in this situation. Force will give you your right of way, and that's the way the government wants it, and the only way our society functions.

The reckless goon drivers of the microbusses are a demonstration of the lawlessness in the streets, of the corruption that is supported by the retired police officers who own those microbusses. Human defect is exemplified in those drivers.

I think you have just summed up everything that is wrong with this society , its the randomness and the chaos that we live in and that ( 7'aleeha 3ala Allah attitude) that nothing will happen if I take this wrong turn or stop in the middle of the road to buy something.

I heard a story about a conference that an Israeli was attending and was talking about the Egyptian street and said that if order was restored to our streets they would start to worry.

Those U-turn solutions they came up with could very well be the result of all human stupidity combined, and shows that people behave just like animals and need to be guided around by fences rather than have the ability and respect to see a red light and stop before the white line.

Also to be fair some roads are just overwhelmed by the number of cars using them and would jam in any civilized nation but we also go and make it worse by the chaotic way we fill up any unused spot of asphalt on the road just to block the entire road rather than stay in the lanes !

Example the Suez road heading to masr el gedida at about 4pm every day people dive out of the road and form a bottleneck of 10 lanes heading into just a narrow street of two lanes resulting into a 2km jam talking about 45 min. to cover. Same in salah salem heading to the gala2 bridge.

It's not just about corrupt police officers its about people's behavior and disrespect for one another.

ohh gosh i thought that im the only one who suffering in this country u r right 100% i agree with u,u know there is no solution in this conuntry believe me its lost cause or maybe all we need is another revolution

المشاركة الأصلية كتبت بواسطة mshamy

This problem is beyond repair, in my opinion only an "act of god " could be the solution

Agree.

The whole society is doing a lot of bad things that we can't figure why all these problems are happening ...
So? An act of God will be the solution

We beg God's Mercy

that is wisdom i guess

المشاركة الأصلية كتبت بواسطة Mido80

Its a problem of driving culture. we have to respect the road rules and then it will be easier to solve the problem

its not only coz of the drivers its the whole system