Abdul Rahman was driving back with his eldest son from from his farm, 70 kilometres away from the city of Tobruk, in the far east of Libya, when a car driving at 160 km/h hit his rear end. Rahman lost control of his vehicle and only seconds later, his car was hit by a lorry. Both Rahman and his son Mohamed were killed on impact.
Abdul Rahman was driving back with his eldest son from from his farm, 70 kilometres away from the city of Tobruk, in the far east of Libya, when a car driving at 160 km/h hit his rear end. Rahman lost control of his vehicle and only seconds later, his car was hit by a lorry. Both Rahman and his son Mohamed were killed on impact.
Rahman is survived by his wife and eight children, two of whom have disabilities. “Every time I hear a knock on the door, I think that my father came back,” Iman, Rahman’s eldest daughter, told Correspondents. “My father and my brother left us and now life has become dark. The family now has no one to protect it and no one to depend on.”
According to a study by the Tobruk Medical Centre, one of the first domestic surveys on traffic deaths in the country, Rahman is one of hundreds of who lost their lives on on Tobruk’s roads in the last 12 months. The survey suggests that traffic accidents account for more deaths in the Libyan city than from heart conditions or cancer combined.
“The number of deaths as a result of these accidents ranges between 1 -2 every day,” says Hamed Mohamed, one of the authors of the survey and a surgeon at the Tobruk Medical Centre. “This is a high number when compared to the number of deaths resulting from bullets, burns or other surgical diseases,” adds Mohamed, who says that his clinic receives 2-5 victims of traffic accidents every day. Many wounds lead to forced amputations, damaged organs or paralysis.
Daily deadly accidents
Hardly a day passes in Tobruk City without news of another tragic traffic accident. Memorials for young men and women who died in traffic accidents are often seen by the roadside.
According to the survey, the number of injuries due to car accidents in 2005 was around 278, with 19 fatalities. In 2010, the number of traffic injuries reached 347 and in 2011 it went up to 540. Fifteen of the latter died in a period of four months only.
An independent report by the UN seems to confirm the dangerous nature of Libya’s roads. “The number of traffic accidents in Libya shows that the year 2012 witnessed the highest number of road accidents reaching up to 2122 while the material losses of these road accidents have reached around 19 million US dollars,” says the UN study on global traffic accidents. The report estimates that the number of traffic-related accidents in Libya could reach 25 per day in the next seven years if there is no action taken to enforce safer driving.
Only volunteer traffic police
But ensuring drivers observe due diligence on the roads is easier said than done, according to an official charged with implementing the Highway Code.
“Many accidents happen because of the lack of attention and concentration by the driver or because peopleare driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs,” Uthman Ali Harbi, a volunteer traffic policeman in Tobruk, told Correspondents. The city currently has no official traffic police, only a civil volunteer force.
“Car drivers bear most of the responsibility for these accidents. The recklessness of drivers, high speeds beyond the allowed limits, lack of respect for road rules such as the use of seatbelts while driving, and taking the right side of the street when the vehicle’s speed is slow, all contribute to the high number of accidents,” concludes Harbi, who calls on all drivers to observe “rules and regulations” more diligently.
But Harbi believes responsibility for the high death toll is shared between drivers and the authorities.
“Traffic congestion, lack of safety conditions on public roads in this region, absence of maintenance operations and the disruption of traffic lights are among the main reasons for the increase in the number of accidents,” he said.
Traffic police officers in Tobruk are volunteers, since The Office of Traffic Management has been disbanded since the fall of Gaddafi and the new administration. With limited resources and unpaid staff, Tobruk’s traffic aurthorities face an uphill struggle to increase safety on the roads.
Psychological pain
What is certain is that negligence on Libya’s roads is having a deep psychological impact on the families of road victims, not to mention the material and property losses.
“The psychological pain suffered by those who experience traffic accidents may last for a long time even after the healing of their physical injuries,” says Hamoud al-Sharif, a Social Psychology Professor from Kind Saud University in Saudi Arabia. It is for this reason that insurance companies in developed countries pay substantial damages for the psychological pain resulting from car accidents,“ adds Al-Sharif.
In Libya, insurance companies tend only to pay the victim, while longhaul firms tend not to offer their drivers any formal insurance.
Despite the social impact and gravity of the death toll on the roads, other pressing issues on the national agenda prevent the authorities from prioritizing solutions to reduce traffic accidents. Maintenance of public roads, the implementation of awareness programs and the spread of respect for road safety and the Highway Code seem to be lost amidst the multiple priorities of nation building. Drivers, and their families, will be hoping that changes soon.
