Morocco launches emergency road safety plan
2008-02-20
With 200 drivers injured daily on Moroccan roads, the government has introduced a new safety plan. The revised Highway Code includes stiffer penalties on offenders, greater protection for pedestrians and improvements to road signs.
By Sarah Touahri for Magharebia in Rabat – 20/02/08
 [Getty Images] Moroccans look on at the site of crash between a truck and bus carrying tourists near Benguerir. An average of 10 people die and 200 are seriously injured every day on Moroccan roads. |
In a bid to improve safety on Morocco's roadways, the government has drawn up a new 1 billion-dirham emergency road safety plan for 2008-2010.
Adopted on Monday (February 18th) in Rabat, the plan is aimed at reducing the current increase in road accidents initially and then ultimately reversing the trend. An average of 10 people die and 200 are seriously injured every day on Morocco’s roads.
Azzedine Chraibi, Permanent Secretary of the National Committee for the Prevention of Road Traffic Accidents, said the road safety campaign is aimed primarily at tackling non-compliance with the country’s Highway Code.
The government has stressed the importance of implementing the draft code, an effective legal framework which officials say will guarantee the legality of all measures taken with regard to road safety. One of the main features of the code is an attempt to tackle repeat offences by expanding the use of spot fines and agreed fines which are generally collected immediately – a practice most drivers oppose. "There’s already corruption as it is. If they increase fines, it'll get out of hand," said teacher Samid Berrahou.
The plan also includes a number of other measures, including some aimed at saving the lives of people in vulnerable categories, such as pedestrians and drivers of two-wheeled vehicles. Some relate to roadside amenities, such as the introduction of new vertical and horizontal road signs in towns. Local authorities have also been asked to make road safety central to their strategies, while a new government handbook has been published to standardise road sign design.
Road checks are to be tightened up, with enhanced monitoring to ensure their credibility and transparency, while resources and equipment for checks will also be boosted. The government has also decided to set up a committee headed by the Ministry of the Interior to implement a general emergency telephone service and devise rapid emergency response programmes to cut down call-out times and make emergency assistance more efficient.
The new three-year plan follows an earlier attempt in 2003 which the government credits with establishing a programme to monitor roads with high incidences of accidents and improving the road network and urban highway maintenance. It was also aimed at making road signage more consistent, tackling accident blackspots, building cycle lanes and revamping the road network.
The country’s fleet of rescue vehicles and ambulances also received a boost, with 166 new vehicles. Eleven new emergency medical centres have been opened and 15 rescue centres have also been built.
The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure is optimistic about the plan, saying that the first phase has already slowed down the rise in accidents. Before its introduction, the number of people involved in road accidents had been increasing by nearly 4.5% per year. This level has since dropped. "If the plan had not been implemented," said Minister of Transport Karim Ghellab, "statistical projections show the number of people killed would have been 4,490 instead of the actual figure of 3,750."
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omar Posted 2008-02-22
I find it aberrant to occupy our time with road accidents. We don't give a damn about this, as it's not Morocco’s top concern. I think the first preoccupation of Morocco’s honest people is corruption. When are we going to see the government act on our real problems? They are a scourge. Everyone has seen the videos of the police extorting poor people who have trouble just to survive, so we have people drowning themselves just to get out. This is shameful for such a good country like ours. Please, I beg you, talk more about corruption, more corruption and nothing but corruption. Thank you in advance. And, of course, may all those who died on the road rest in peace.
محمد Posted 2008-02-24
Very good.
Anthony Casa Posted 2008-03-26
omar said: "Please, I beg you, talk more about corruption, more corruption and nothing but corruption." It's the same thing, dude. When I see a policeman stopping a taxi driver for doing nothing, I know it's just because he wants a hundred dirhams. And when I see him letting a BMW or a Merc. get away with running a red traffic light, then I know it's because he's scared that if he stops it and it's someone important, then wham, bam thank you man, that policeman is going to get sent somewhere not very nice. You know the funny thing is, when I (I'm a European) cross the road at a junction, traffic turning stops for me (as the law demands), when it's a 'poor' Moroccan then the traffic doesn't stop, just makes the person jump out of the way (I live in Casa, I see it a dozen times a day). Getting Morocco's traffic to be safe is 'just' a question of EVERYBODY OBEYING THE TRAFFIC LAWS. But when you can buy or influence your way out of laws, then you take no notice of them. Getting EVERYONE (from the very top to the very bottom) to obey the traffic laws is the same as fighting corruption - or it leads to the same place, a respect for the law...and without that I weep for Morocco, 'cos you see how much damage the present situation does every single day.
صالح مجدول Posted 2008-06-19
If the royal decree organization traffic law (decree of 1953) bans withdrawing the driving licence except in very limited cases as an example, then who gave the right to the policeman who doesn’t have the status of the judiciary police officer to withdraw the driving licence on the case of a violation which was not dictated by the law as the type for which the licence should be withdrawn as do traffic officers in the safety of Tit Melil, province of Mediouna? The police officer said that Jawad Mejdoul was driving at 69 km per hour. This minor offence doesn’t require a high fine of 400 dirhams and wasn’t included by the legislator within gross violations which require paying that fine. I ask the officials in charge of the safety and security of road users to implement the law in force and not make interpretation (there is no jurisprudence in the presence of text. Saleh Mejdoul, the father of the victim whose driving licence was withdrawn from him.
صالح مجدول Posted 2008-07-21
The legal rule is general and abstract (General to all people and abstract means that if you meet the conditions for punishment, you are punished). Why do road officers not implement law? What is the law which authorizes state vehicles bearing the characters 'red m' and 'red j' to violate law? They commit the same violations as civilians whose driving licences are withdrawn and they must go to the police station to pay a fine. Drivers of the state cars are exempted by the police of Tit Melil, province of Mediouna. It is therefore violating the law in effect. The road police in Tit Melil should deal in the same way with those who violate the law even if they drive an m.red or j.red cars. I also wonder why do the police of Tit Melil not have a fine book of the category of 100 dirhams category and 200 dirhams. Why do they only have fine books of the category of 400 dirhams? The police officer who fines 400 hundred dirhams even if he knows that the committed offence does not require a fine of 400 dirhams has thus committed an infracyion punishable by law although the fine for infraction goes to the state fund. Law provides for suing the police officer who drew up the minutes of the infraction in that case (this is the case for an attorney in Bouznika who won his case). The police is called to implement law. There is no crime or punishment without legal text. People are equal before law.
بيداح انزكان اكاديرbaidah agadir inzegan Posted 2008-08-16
The statistics we read in some national and electronic magazines show that in 979 road accidents, 19 people were killed and 1275 were injured. 63 of them had serious injuries. These accidents happened in the urban areas during the week from 4 August 2008 to 10. The general directorate of the national safety and the royal gendarmerie attributed the main causes of these accidents to the lack of control, carelessness of pedestrians, high speed, non respect of the priority to the right, non respect of the priority to the left in some big cities such as the Wilaya of Agadir and Inezgane. In addition to the carelessness of drivers, turning without previous signal, failure to stop at the mandatory stop sign, change of direction in unauthorized areas, driving on the left of the road, unlawful passing, failure to stop at the mandatory red light, non respect of traffic signs, non respect of lights, driving in a state of drunkenness or under the effect of an analgesic drug causing drowsiness, talking on the mobile phone or while the radio is opened at a high volume, talking to a friend jokingly, in a state of anger, thinking of domestic family problems or work, mistreatment of some drivers on the road as if you are playing with a snake and you don’t know from where it will bite you with poison, in a twinkle. Besides walking in the forbidden direction. All these are advices to avoid road accidents. Stop accidents. Let’s change our attitude. We also talk of corruption but why don’t we talk of personal reform? We always talk about other countries. We must reform ourselves internally and build our country for coming generations without lies, hypocrisy. This concerns us alone and not others. We are responsible for coming generations. Oh Lord you haven’t created this wrongly. Every day we must change our attitude so that we live safe from road accidents. I consider that this change doesn’t have one face throughout times. It is a renewed practice. It changes with the change of crises. Most of them just beg through the media for other sectors. They don’t take it as a priority. We just consider it as a method to reach other things which seem more important for real actors in the media.
KARIM Posted 2008-11-20
The forecast developments as issued by the Minister of Transport and Public Works confirm that if no innovative road-safety measures are taken between 2003 and 2010, then physical road accidents and the victims resulting therefrom will continue to rise so that in 2010 it will reach a 71,376 physical accidents (based on a 4% annual increase), 4803 dead (based on a 3.1% annual increase) and 118,386 wounded (based on a 4.8% annul increase), with 10 people being killed and 216 wounded each day. This carnage is costing the Moroccan state over 14 billion dirhams each year. Any communication or must be based on the shared knowledge of the phenomenon. In order to act more rapidly and more effectively, it is necessary that we have viable and statistical elements able to be quickly accessed. Improving the speed by which we access information and modernising analytical updates on physical accidents needs to work towards this end. A national council on road safety should be created. It would be involved with the elaboration and evaluation of our national policies on road safety and it would be in charge of studies and research it deems useful to improving its knowledge of road safety. It would also bring together economic actors and the public authorities together into organisations. In fact, we can only realise a full mobilisation of everyone if the problem of lack of safety on the roads is recognised as a real problem and connected to the ensemble of public health and safety issues. Health and safety have become…
عبد المجيد Posted 2009-02-01
I am a member of traffic safety in the province of Gabes, Republic of Tunisia. I want more information about traffic safety 01- to be informed about the association of Morocco- 02. Training in traffic safety.
yousra Posted 2009-02-20
Thank you for this information.
ali Posted 2009-03-29
We are sorry to hear these statistics about road accidents and depleting public monies from the state treasury. We all agree that there is a road corruption and not a road war as they say. I don't blame the policeman or gendarme, they are mere servants. They must bring an amount of money and record a number of offenses every day. The victim is the simple citizen who has no influence. To stop this bleeding, we must give greater importance to road education from the basis. We must change our attitude from an irresponsible to a responsible attitude concerned about the nation.
meriam Posted 18 days ago
Thank you!
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