VZCZCXRO9329
RR RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHKUK RUEHROV
DE RUEHRB #0280/01 0911728
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 311728Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY RABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8327
INFO RUEHCL/AMCONSUL CASABLANCA 3990
RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 3556
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 4969
RUEHNK/AMEMBASSY NOUAKCHOTT 3696

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 RABAT 000280 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR NEA/MAG AND EB/TRA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELTN ECON ELAB MO
SUBJECT: MOROCCO'S ROAD CARNAGE 
 
REF:  07 RABAT 0781 
 
Sensitive but unclassified.  Please protect accordingly. 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  In spite of a multi-year national campaign 
initiated in 2004 to decrease road fatalities, Morocco suffered an 
increase in the number of killed and seriously injured in 2007, with 
on average, more than 10 people killed and 240 seriously injured on 
Moroccan roads each day.  The carnage prompted the Minister of 
Transportation to announce a new road safety action plan at the end 
of February that includes legislation that would implement a new 
national road code.  Although there is widespread outrage at the 
scope of the carnage, public support of the government's reform 
legislation is mixed and popular grass-roots efforts to curb the 
situation have yet to materialize.  As one contact in the Foreign 
Ministry put it, "Moroccans drive the way they do because they can." 
 End Summary. 
 
------------------- 
The Grim Statistics 
------------------- 
 
¶2.  (U) In Morocco there were approximately 3,800 people killed in 
2007, with 86,000 injured in 54,500 accidents.  Given Morocco's 
estimated 2 million motor vehicles, this equates to a rate of 1,900 
deaths per million vehicles, making Morocco one of the world's most 
dangerous countries.  By comparison, California, which is 
approximately the same geographic size and population, has a rate of 
approximately 135 deaths per million vehicles. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Econoff met with the Chief of Road Safety in the 
Transportation Ministry, Abdelhamid Janati Idrissi, to discuss 
Morocco's accident statistics and government initiatives.  Urban 
areas account for the majority of accidents (70 percent), while 
rural settings account for the majority of fatalities (70 percent). 
Among the victims seriously injured or killed, 77 percent are male, 
12 percent are less than 14 years old, and 31 percent are 
pedestrians.  In addition to the human toll, Idrissi underlined the 
economic cost of Morocco's accidents, which the Ministry estimates 
to be 2.5 percent of GDP, about equal to the value of all 
U.S.-Morocco bilateral trade. 
 
¶4.  (U) During a recent interview, Transport Minister Karim Ghellab 
defended the government's actions, calling attention to Morocco's 
mortality trend before implementation of the 2004 plan.  Between 
1996 and 2003, Moroccan fatalities grew between 4-5 percent per 
year.  According to Ghellab, without government action in 2004, 
Morocco was on course to suffer 4,490 fatalities in 2007, vice the 
actual 3,800. 
 
------------------------------------- 
New Road Legislation Will Not Be Easy 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Reasons for Morocco's grim statistics are varied. 
According to Idrissi, 80 percent of the accidents are due to human 
factors he characterized as "disrespect" for the law.  Other factors 
include lack of safety awareness, road infrastructure, vehicle 
condition, driver training and licensing, and weather.  Addressing 
all these factors, Ghellab announced a new plan of action on 
February 20, which calls for renewed public safety awareness, 
improvements to the road infrastructure, and implementation of a new 
Moroccan road code.  Included in the new code are increased use of 
"on the spot" fines, stiffer penalties, and overhaul of vehicle 
registration and drivers license procedures. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) While everyone seems to agree something must be done, not 
everyone agrees the new road code is the answer.  An earlier attempt 
to secure its passage in April 2007 inspired two major labor strikes 
that caused the government to withdraw it.  Led by professional 
transport unions, but also buoyed by public support, criticism of 
the new code centers around its stiffer penalties and increased 
authority for police to issue spot fines and confiscate licenses. 
Heading the list of complaints are the increased fines, which 
detractors call inappropriate for Morocco's standard of living. 
Under the new law, the first level of fines would rise from 400 
dirhams (USD 52) to 1,500 dirhams (USD 194).  Detractors also 
challenge the consequences of granting traffic police (seen as one 
of the most corrupt entities in the country) the authority to 
confiscate licenses, arguing that such power would give police even 
more leverage to extort bribes from drivers who were at risk of 
losing their livelihood. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Also at issue for many Moroccans is the "actual" price 
Moroccans will have to pay for traffic violations.  Although a minor 
speed violation currently carries a 400 dirhams fine, in practice, 
 
RABAT 00000280  002 OF 002 
 
 
many Moroccans make only a 50-100 dirham immediate payment to the 
officer at the scene.  In explaining the public's criticism of the 
new law's increased fines, one Moroccan asked, "If a 400 dirham 
offense actually costs 100 dirhams, how much will a 1,500 dirham 
offense cost?" 
 
--------------------------------- 
Disrespect, Education, and Apathy 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Although not everyone agrees the new road code is the 
right cure, there is general agreement on the disease: widespread 
disrespect of driving laws and conditions.  According to Idrissi, 
disrespect of road laws, such as excessive speed, reckless driving, 
intoxication, and improper passing, account for 80 percent of all 
serious accidents.  Reinforcing points made by Minister Ghellab, 
Idrissi emphasized increased enforcement through passage of the new 
road code as the key to reversing the situation.  A contact in the 
Foreign Ministry seemed to support this view.  "It's not that 
Moroccans don't know how to drive safely.  In fact, they do so when 
they travel to Europe and the U.S.  They drive like they do in 
Morocco because they can." 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Khalid Shimi, who runs a drivers training school in 
Kenitra and is the director of the Moroccan Association for Road 
Safety Education, agrees that disrespect of road laws is rampant. 
However, Shimi believes that safety awareness programs aimed at 
Morocco's youth hold the key to changing the current culture. 
Shimi's association has presented over 30 safety outreach events at 
local schools in the past two years, convincing Shimi that road 
safety should be integrated into Morocco's education system. 
Lamenting the number of children killed while walking to and from 
school, Shimi admitted giving up hope for a culture change within 
the current generation.  Instead, he believes a new culture of 
safety awareness can only start with the children. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) No one discounts the human cost of what the Moroccan 
press calls the "Road War."  Routinely, Moroccan TV broadcasts 
grisly accident scenes and grieving families.  Nonetheless, in a 
country that seemingly embraces public demonstration as a national 
pastime, public movements to stop the constant wave of accidents are 
nonexistent.  Shimi acknowledged frustration with both government 
and public apathy, categorizing the whole "system" as corrupt. 
"Licenses are bought, not earned.  The same people who cry after an 
accident are the same ones who paid the bribes." 
 
¶11.  (SBU) Comment:  In terms of shattered human lives and lost 
economic opportunity, Morocco's road accidents are exacting a price 
the country cannot sustain.  At the heart of the debate over the new 
road code are basic questions of trust and corruption.  On the one 
hand, the public is reluctant to place additional trust in a traffic 
police force that has proven to be rife with corruption.  On the 
other hand, the government asserts that placing more authority with 
police and increasing fines is the only way to change the current 
culture and deter disrespect of traffic laws. 
 
¶12.  (SBU) Comment Cont.  While passage and implementation of the 
new road code will not come easily, it appears to be something 
Minister Ghellab is willing to stake his reputation on.  Known as a 
reformer within the government, Ghellab was given two of the 
government's most controversial portfolios:  port and road reform. 
As he did with the port reform bill in December 2006 and in breaking 
the transportation strike in April 2007, we look for Ghellab to 
negotiate pay and pension concessions with the professional 
transportation unions in order to gain ultimate acceptance of the 
new road code.  End Comment. 
 
JACKSON