Algeria attempts to reduce number of road accidents

14/05/2006

Algeria has one of the highest rates of road accidents in the world. Government efforts to alleviate the problem include harsher penalties, such as loss of driver's license for not wearing a seat belt or using a cell phone while driving.

By Mohand Ouali for Magharebia in Algiers – 14/05/06

[File] Maghlaoui

Road accidents cost Algeria 50 billion dinars in economic losses in 2005, according to a recent presentation by Algerian Transport Minister Mohamed Maghlaoui. Addressing parliament during an early May session on "the Law on Road Traffic Management and Safety", Maghlaoui listed other unfortunate impacts of this problem -- such as thousands of deaths every year and the large number of people who suffer debilitating injuries.

Statistics from the National Centre for Road Safety and Prevention show that 8,665 road accidents occurred during the first quarter of this year, resulting in 12,338 injuries and 831 fatalities. The figures are higher than those for the same period in 2005, but lower than those of 2004. In 2005, national police recorded 2,932 deaths and 38,857 injures in a total of 22,284 road accidents, while the 2004 figures were 496 deaths, 4,336 injuries and 19,935 accidents.

Maghaloui cited reckless driving as the main cause of accidents, with poor vehicle and road conditions are also to blame in many cases.

The Highway Code was changed in 2004 in an attempt to curb the problem by levying heavier punishments for serious offences, the minister said. Wearing seatbelts was made compulsory, with offenders automatically losing their driver's licenses. The same penalty also applies to using a mobile phone while driving.

Numerous offences have been reclassified, with an increase planned in the number of offences for which a driver's license may be revoked.

One of the preventative measures implemented to cut the number of accidents is the requirement for a vehicle to undergo periodical mechanical inspections. However, the law is not being applied to all vehicles due to a shortage of inspection centres, said the minister, attributing it to a rise in total number of vehicles in the country from 1.2 million in 1985 to 4.6 million in 2005.

Recommended measures will include a revision of the training and examinations process for driver qualification, making prosecutions standard, increasing fines -- the total collected in 2005 was over 700m dinars -- and the launch of a campaign to raise awareness of road dangers.