By Nourhan Fahmy
Seven people were killed and four others were injured in a car crash on the Edfu Desert road in Aswan governorate on Tuesday, state media reported. The accident involved two cars, one of which belonged to the police.
The injured were transferred to the Edfu General Hospital and the deceased to the Edfu Morgue. Preliminary investigations on the scene of the accident identified the deceased and cited speeding as the cause of the accident.
Earlier this month, two accidents in Sohag and Baheira claimed the lives of 18 university students and 10 school children, respectively, raising alarms about road safety.
In response, Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb’s cabinet issued new legislation that allows trucks to only drive during the night in cities. In addition, harsher penalties for exceeding the speed limit, wrong-way driving, and driving while intoxicated are to be implemented, pending approval by the State Council.
An accident involving three buses occurred on the same road on 13 October, causing the deaths of 27 people and leaving 18 injured.
Road accidents are a major cause of death in Egypt. According to the World Health Organization, Egypt loses about 12,000 lives due to road traffic accidents every year, with a fatality rate of 42 deaths per 100,000 of the population. In 2013, the total number of accidents in Cairo increased by 24% compared to the previous year.
