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