Traffic crashes killed 8500 people and injured 35,000 last year in Egypt, according to an Arab NGO.
Adel al-Kashef, head of the Cairo-based Arab Road Association, said the Egyptian government “is trying to impose a blackout on the real number of road accident victims.”
The number of accidents exceeded 125,000 in 2010, far more than the numbers released by the Interior Ministry, according to al-Kashef.
Meanwhile, official sources from the Transportation Ministry laid responsibility for the increasing numbers of accidents on the Interior Ministry.
The Public Traffic Administration, according to an anonymous source, “should have closed some roads due to thick mist, as bad weather led to catastrophes leaving around 50 dead and 100 injured over the past two days.”
Sources said human error “is responsible for 80 percent of road accidents. The rest is due to road conditions and other circumstances.”
Estimates of the death toll are inconsistent. While the Health Ministry puts the number at 7500, the Interior Ministry claims it is closer to 7000. However, international organizations estimate that around 13,000 die annually, putting Egypt high on the list of countries with the most traffic fatalities.
A government study issued by the Egyptian Cabinet Information and Decision Support Center also said crashes in Egypt have reached a dangerously high level exceeding the rates of most other countries.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
