Egypt's traffic and culture

If Egypt's traffic problems are solved, all of Egypt's problems will be solved.

I very much believe that. Egypt's traffic is a replica of our society, a big mess --and for the same reasons. Every problem in our society is reflected in our traffic. So if we are capable of fixing our traffic problems, it means that we were able to fix our societal and cultural problems.

Our traffic problem is a contribution of everyone in our society. The government has a big role, the drivers (and pedestrians) have a role, traffic officers have a role, and the law and its skewed enforcement has a role.

The government is totally incapable of devising a proper traffic system, building a safe road infrastructure (which is not about asphalt, but about road signs, traffic lights, lane markers, sidewalks), cannot set a usable traffic law, and is full of corrupt and inept officers. The officers in the street are enfocring a haphazard law that is not well defined. They are enforcing their own whims on drivers who don't know what the law today is, and have to guess if its illegal to park on this side of the road (when there's no sign), or if its illegal to take a left turn (when there's no sign) only to find an officer waiting for them at the end of the street with a violations book. You have to wait for hours if Hosni's parade is passing by, you have to give the right of way to any high ranking official (or foreign visitor) with a Jeep Cherokee entourage pointing machine guns at you.

To survive Egypt's traffic you either have to be powerful with the right connections, be filthy rich, be a thug, or mind your own business avoiding trouble. I end up being a mix of the four, but I try to mind my own business.

The powerful with the right connections will do as they please in our lawless streets, and never pay a fine. The rich, are powerful, they pay bribes, but never pay a fine. The thugs, will do as they please, never questioned, except if the government is short in money and needs some extra revenue. The peaceful and powerless have no business driving in those streets, they're just causing a traffic jam. If you want to save yourself from going insane, or from being one of the above four types of people, then your best mean of interaction with the traffic system (or any other system in Egypt) is through a proxy. Get a driver.

Those U-turns which they replaced every major traffic light intersection with, enforces an uncivilized culture of 'survival of the fittest', where you don't wait for your turn, but you take a steep left from the extreme right lane to the extreme left lane, take a U-turn, then another steep right from the extreme left lane to the extreme right lane. No yielding allowed, and there is no right of way in this situation. Force will give you your right of way, and that's the way the government wants it, and the only way our society functions.

The reckless goon drivers of the microbusses are a demonstration of the lawlessness in the streets, of the corruption that is supported by the retired police officers who own those microbusses. Human defect is exemplified in those drivers.

The decades old, unsafe and pollution friendly cars filling the streets are a reflection of the way we function and think as a society. The contrast of those old crumbled cars along side of fancy German cars and donkey carts, is a real contrast of our society.

Egyptians in fact do not know how to drive. They keep gloating that they are the best drivers in the world, and that if you drive in Cairo's streets then you can drive anywhere else. But that's not true. Knowing how to push the gas pedal and maneuvering your automobile in between other vehicles and people is not the definition of good driving. Its knowing the traffic rules, and respecting them, its knowing who has the right of way and giving it to them, checking your blind spot, and waiting for a pedestrian to cross, and so forth.

The people are certainly contributing to the mess. The government, lack of proper laws, and proper law enforcement encourages that behavior of ours. But we take it too far however, and enjoy the lawlessness. Typical Egyptian traits can be vividly seen in Egypt's streets. Traits such as always wanting to outsmart the law, taking short cuts and extreme negligence are a daily routine that we can't live without, but which are ruining our lives.

People driving in the opposite direction directly facing other moving cars, has nothing to do with lack/ignorance of laws or their enforcement. It has to do with greed and disrespect for other people's rights and for human lives.

The lack of traffic laws, law enforcement and driver education cannot be excuses for the the Egyptian drivers' attitude of extreme negligence and lack of respect for the other and for the other's rights.

What's amazing is that people somehow manage, cars get moving, people reach their destinations, traffic jams are much less than other countries, accidents are much more which people choose to ignore that fact. It works, in a very screwed up definition of the word "works", but it does.

Just like traffic. What's amazing is that life doesn't stop in Egypt, the country doesn't exactly fall into shambles, we're stagnant as a society and not developing, but we survive. A very screwed up definition of the word "survive", but we do. Is that enough though? just to survive!

Egyptian traits, cultural and societal ills are reflected in our streets. The inept government, traffic officers, drivers, and laws constitute our society, are part of it and result from it. The attitude of all these in the streets is our attitude in our daily lives, in our dealing with each other, in how Egypt is 'developed'.

If our traffic problem is ever solved, then its an indication that the rest of our problems have been solved.