Lebanon tackles its problems — one traffic ticket at a time - FT.com

posted on: May 10, 2015

You would think Lebanon is consumed by the threat of jihadis knocking at the border gates. Or the more than 1m Syrian refugees flooding its villages and towns. Or perhaps the fact that there is no president because the political class can’t agree on holding an election.
But no. The talk of the town in Beirut is the new traffic law, modern and progressive, and so draconian that it rivals regulations in western states.

The council of ministers, unable to tackle Lebanon’s big problems, has been on a mission to demonstrate its efficiency with small improvements in citizens’ daily lives. It is selling the law as a sign of progress amid the broader disorder. And it has sparked a hot debate, with as many supporters of the measure as detractors.
Let me put things in perspective. Some 25 years after a devastating civil war, Lebanon is a driving jungle. Some of the provisions in the law tell the story. There are fines not only for drink-driving and passing red lights, but also for drivers who “stick their head or any other body part out of the window” or take on passengers who “sit on the window when someone else is driving”.
In the early years after the civil war, I used to find charm in the chaos: driving in Beirut was like a bumper car ride. Now I’m terrified and I don’t dare sit behind a wheel.
Road signs and traffic lights are a novelty that is easily ignored, and drivers make up their own laws as they navigate the potholed streets, which are often unlit at night. Even if less prevalent than in the past, driving licences can still be bought and policemen corrupted.
The result? According to Yasa, a non-governmental organisation that campaigns for road safety, there are tens of thousands of car accidents a year, and an estimated 900 annual deaths for a population of about 4m. According to a study by Yasa officials, that places Lebanon as the fifth most dangerous country in the Middle East when it comes to road safety, after Oman, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Yemen.

Source: www.ft.com