Lebanon headed in the wrong direction with driving regulations

As the Lebanese government attempts to overhaul the nation's driving habits. Michael Karam recalls the failed introduction of a smoking ban.

It’s been said so many times over the past 20 years that the needle is not so much stuck on the record, as much as boring a hole into the vinyl. But last week, speaking at the launch of something called the Lebanon Economic Monitor, Eric Le Borgne, the World Bank’s lead economist, decided to remind Lebanon just one more time that it was in “dire need of reform”.

It’s not as if we don’t know what needs to be done, but our Olympic level of corruption is a cultural malaise that is so ingrained in our fabric that the best we can hope for is to get it down to the level of, say, Greece or Italy and that might take decades. The harnessing of sufficient, efficient and clean supply of electricity and water is a relatively straightforward task, provided the will is there … but so far it’s been shamefully absent.

Which leads us on to what is arguably the most challenging of priorities, one that has a direct bearing on the health service, insurance industry, tourist sector and even our investment climate: creating a nation of safe drivers.

Too many people perish needlessly on our roads, but the task of devising a credible driving test that we all have to sit and pass and drafting a highway code that becomes a symbol of national pride is going to take such a seismic mindshift that, for the time being, it may actually be too big an ask. The sheer scale of what is really required is beyond the ken of most Lebanese. Our public institutions may have the will but the know- how just isn’t there, And then there’s the issue of enforcement, and there I refer you to the failed no smoking ban. There is no institutional “grip” within the public sector and not enough of a notion of the rule of law. This will not change as long as there is the belief that some people are above it.

Still, there’s no harm in trying and last week the government unveiled a new set of road laws that it claims can halve the 700 or so annual road deaths by 2020. I predict any new directives will be ignored within a year, possibly sooner (remember the speed traps that were unveiled in 2010 then all but disappeared within six months?).

But for the sake of argument, let’s run with this new initiative because there is an urgent need for change. There is currently no driving test to speak of, no highway code that anyone abides by and no trained driving instructors. What tests we do conduct take place in parking lots and involve reversing through cones in cars that should have been consigned to the scrapyard years ago. Instructors need only to have passed a test on all vehicle types — lorries, buses etc — to teach, each one presumably with his own. Remember this is Lebanon — take on what makes a good driver.

Not surprisingly, the result is organised chaos. The Wikitravel site is being kind when it says that “Lebanon’s roads are generally quite poor condition and Lebanese drivers are not known for their caution. Exercise extreme caution when driving in Lebanon.” Great for tourism, right?

Now, from demanding virtually nothing at all, the government is insisting that instructors take a two-year course and that driving schools provide a classroom on their premises, presumably for students to study driving theory. No wonder they are up in arms. I would be.

Things have not got off to an auspicious start. The government has insisted that all cars carry a fire extinguisher and a fluorescent triangular hazard. And guess what? Prices have rocketed.

It’s all a bit too much too soon. Public transport must be upgraded and promoted, while the real priorities, driving habits that pose the most immediate peril such as drink driving, speeding, seat belt awareness (especially when it comes to infants) and road manners (including my own bugbear: the incorrect and dangerous use of full beam), can be addressed via public awareness campaigns and school visits. Structural and legislative reforms rolled out last week must be phased in over a longer period.

Have we learnt nothing from the smoking ban?

Michael Karam is a freelance writer who lives between Beirut and Brighton.

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