Thursday, January 25, 2007
The death toll on Moroccan roads - a huge problem
Last year the death toll on Moroccan roads was particularly bad and sadly this year may be worse. The government are clearly worried by the social and financial impact and are bringing in new laws to try and get the accident rate under control. At present, more than 3,800 lives that are lost every year due to traffic accidents and and far greater number of people survive but with medical problems that will remain with them all their lives. The impact on families can be devastating. The financial burden on the country is now above 1.2 billion USD which is 2.5% of the country’s GDP
One option that is being discussed in parliament is huge fines and even prison sentences for those who do not respect the road code. But clearly driver education and policing will also have to be drastically improved.
2007 has not got off to a good start. Yesterday five people killed and twenty injured in Marrakech when a coach collided with a semi-trailer transporting sand. The victims and the injured were taken to the city's main hospital.
On Wednesday, four people were killed and six injured in another road accident that took place when a truck collided head-on with a car on the road between Tangiers and Oujda. On January 8, nine people were killed and 24 others were injured, including 11 seriously, after a coach overturned near Taza in the north east. Two days earlier, another accident near the central town of Sidi Kacem claimed the lives of seven people, including three children and a woman.
Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news
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I am disappointed to hear that the Moroccan government would think that increasing fines and regulations and introducing prison terms will help to resolve the number of car accidents in Morocco.
As a North American who has taken several road trips in Morocco, I can clearly see one factor that could be improved upon that doesn't involve penalizing the public: road conditions.
How about putting money into properly banking dangerous curves, widening single-lane roads, installing median barriers, or even installing lighting on some of the thousand-mile stretches of highway that are engulfed in complete darkness at night?
Or instead of improving upon already existing railway tracks in the North, how about completing the railway extension from Marrakesh to Agadir, where some of the recent deadly accidents have occured? Not only would this provide a safer option for travellers, it will increase tourism and help to vitalize the area, integrating it more with the North.
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