VZCZCXYZ0015
RR RUEHWEB
DE RUEHEG #0168 0281514
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 281512Z JAN 10
FM AMEMBASSY CAIRO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0077
INFO RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO
UNCLAS CAIRO 000168
SIPDIS
OES FOR N. CARTER-FOSTER
DEPT FOR NEA/ELA
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON SOCI PGOV EG
SUBJECT: EGYPT: DEMARCHE DELIVERED ON BANNING TEXT MESSAGES WHILE
DRIVING
REF: STATE 6703
1.(U) Emboffs delivered ref demarche to Egyptian government officials on January 27 and 28. ESTHoff spoke to Ministry of
Health Senior Advisor for International Cooperation Mokhtar Warida regarding the banning of text messages while driving.
Warida noted that Egypt strongly supports the President's executive order and government officials attended the Moscow
ministerial conference in November 2009. He also stated the Egyptian parliament passed legislation last year forbidding
the use of mobile phones in any vehicle unless they are used in conjunction with a hand-free device. Warida acknowledged
that the government has experienced difficulty in enforcing the legislation but noted police officers have the authority
to fine and confiscate licenses when they encounter drivers violating the law.
2.(U) Econoff met with Dr. Hisham Fouad, Senior Advisor to Egypt's General Authority for Road Safety and Land Transport
(GARBLT), within the Ministry of Transportation on January 28. Econoff previously discussed the President's Executive
Order on distracted driving, and USG international steps on distracted driving with Dr. Fouad and with corporate members
of a private sector Cairo road safety group in which Embassy has been active over the last year. Fouad, speaking for the
GOE and private sector representatives present at the meeting, agreed that GOE had already recognized and taken
legislative action on distracted driving but that, as in most issues related to traffic safety in Egypt, there are
serious law enforcement shortcomings.
3.(U) Fouad said that, although GARBLT traffic safety statistics focus strongly on driver behavior (deemed by GARBLT to
be responsible for more than 80 percent of Egypt's more than 12,000 annual traffic fatalities), such statistics do not
distinguish between distracted driving or cell phone usage and other forms of driver behavior, such as excessive speed
or erratic turns. Fouad promised to check whether there is any quantifiable measure by which Egyptian authorities track
distracted driving as a distinct behavior, but he doubted this was the case. SCOBEY