Minister says 15% of road accidents caused by infrastructure

Transportation Minister Hany Dahy said on Tuesday that problems with infrastructure account for over 15 percent of road accidents each year in Egypt.

According to state-owned website EGYNews, Dahy claimed that if road infrastructure met international standards, it should not be responsible for more than one percent of road accidents.

Speaking at the "Egypt: Road to the Future" conference, Dahy added that Egypt has 24,000 kilometers of roadway and 1,704 bridges, which are often misused by motorists.

Dahy added during the conference that the infrastructure network has been ill-maintained during the last three years, due to political instability. The minister said that most radars are out of order, meaning motorists' speeds and damage to roads have only increased.

A government report released in March by the Ministries of Interior and Transportation claimed that the majority of Egypt’s road and railway accidents are caused by human error.  The report explained that human error is responsible for 62 percent of accidents, while technical problems account for 16 percent and road conditions a further 1.8 percent.  

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), around 12,000 fatalities occur each year as a result of traffic accidents. The study suggested that reasons other than human error were a factor.