Driving in Libya! قيادة السيارات في ليبيا

Above is a funny video by Bruno Bozzetto about driving in Italy. I think a lot of people who know the Libyan roads and driving attitudes would agree that it should be renamed: "Driving in Libya!". Actually in this case reality maybe even more bizarre!

Mobiles and Driving لا تستخدم الهاتف النقال أثناء القيادة

PSA Texting while Driving U.K. Ad (Youtube and Vimeo)

Texting While Driving: How Dangerous is it? - Car and Driver

Indian Ad Campaign about Mobile Phone use and driving

The first two videos are the same but in different formats (Youtube and Vimeo). It's a British campaign against texting and driving. Although the sad story told in the video is acted out, the reality is probably worse. what you see happens on a daily basis and sometimes in a more tragic and horrific way.

The second Video showcases an interesting study done to compare driving while texting and driving while under the influence of Alcohol. Although both are dangerous, the study found that texting was actually more dangerous.

The road safety poster ( ملصق أو بوستر سلامة الطرق ) above is an Indian ad effectively expressing the dangers of mobile/cell phone use while driving.

Please read this excellent article on Mobile phones and driving available on Wiki.

Unfortunately no Arabic version of it is available yet. Anyone care to translate the article? I wish I could, but I'd rather leave it to more talented Arabic speakers!

The main points in the article:

• Driver inattention is estimated to be a factor in between 20 to 50 percent of all police-reported crashes.

• Studies have shown that cell phone drivers exhibited similar or greater impairment than intoxicated drivers.
  
  

• Driving while using a handsfree cellular device is not safer than using a hand held cell phone, as concluded by case-crossover studies.The increased "cognitive workload" involved in holding a conversation, not the use of hands, causes the increased risk.
  
  
• Text messaging had the greatest relative risk, with drivers being 23 times more likely to experience a safety-critical event when texting. A study conducted found that drivers typically take their eyes off the forward roadway for an average of four out of six seconds when texting, and an average of 4.6 out of the six seconds surrounding safety-critical events.

Please see the full articles for the full information and references.

Driving while speaking on the phone or texting can increase your chances of having an accident by 4 times or more.

The best way to avoid accidents is NOT to use the mobile phone while driving. One effective and sure way to do this is to switch off the phone before embarking on your journey.

SWITCH OFF AND DRIVE OFF.

Please see a previous post of mine regarding this issue: Road Safety: Mobile Phones هواتف النقال

My New Video: Ubuntu (Sabily) and Arabic اوبونتو (سبيلي) واللغة العربية

I thought I'd make a video on Linux Ubuntu to showcase it, especially for those who use Arabic. There seems to be a lack of media on the Arabic part of Linux. I hope the video can give people more info on the subject. The above videos are the same but one is hosted on YouTube and the other in Vimeo.

The distro in the video is called Sabily. It's an Islamic Ubuntu, the version shown corresponds to Ubuntu 9.10. I've shown some applications and also Arabic text, mostly its rendering in web pages through Firefox and Chrome. For word-processing I showed the excellent OpenOffice. The video quality maybe a little off, for that I apologise, I'm new at this! You could try maximising the video if its unclear. The video is a bit long at 10 minutes but believe me, there is still plenty more to show in terms of applications etc.

Towards the end of the video, I also used a Quran reciter which comes pre-installed with Sabily.

As mentioned in my last post Ubuntu 10.04 is already out and is even better then the version showcased in this video. Regarding Sabily, it is an excellent distro, packed full of Islamic and educational software ready to use straight after installation. The next version of Sabily (corresponding to Ubuntu 10.04) is still pending.

If you want to visit the Sabily web page it's here and for the latest Ubuntu click here.
Please read my last post for more information on Linux and Ubuntu.

For those who may ask, the music in the background of the video is a form of Andalusian Muwashahat from Libya also called Ma'luf (a form of Islamic traditional music). It's a form of invocation.
The musical group in the video is lead by Hassan Araybi from Libya, who sadly passed away last year. The invocation is called "Ya Men Khalaqta Alwara Min Dulmat Al-Adami", can anyone translate that? In Arabic: حسن عريبي: يا من خلقت الورى من ظلمة العدم .
For Arabic speakers the words of the invocation are:

يا من خلقت الورى من ظلمة العدم

يا ذا البقاء و الغنى و الجود و الكرم
يا عالم الغيب يا من لا شريك له
ياذا العطاء و الندى يا بارئ النسم

يا سامعا لدعاء المضطر يا املي
يا واحد احد يا واهب النعم
انت العليم الهى و القضاء قدري فامنن و بارك و تب انى لذو عشم
فقد امرت بان ندعوك يا سندى و قد وعدت اجبنا ذا العطا العمم
يسر لسيري ايا مولاى مكرمة و العفو فى الدين و الغفران للمم

انت العليم الهى و القضاء قدري
فامنن و بارك وتب اني لذو عشم
ادعوك بالذات و الاسماء اجمعها
كذا الصفات و ما فى اللوح و القلم
ان تستر الحال منى دائما ابدا و فى الاقامة و الترحال للحرم
انت العليم الهى و القضاء قدري فامنن و بارك و تب انى لذو عشم
ثم الصلاة على المختار سيدنا محمد خير خلق الله كلهم
و الال و الصحب ما غنت مطوقة او ما حدا سائق الركبان بالنغم

Defensive driving دورة القيادة الدفاعية اوالوقائية

I left a comment on my previous post regarding defensive driving and its importance. When you have a dire road situation such as the one that we have in Libya, and when you try but you can't do anything about at, at least not in the short run, then you have to think of how you can help yourself, i.e. primarily by staying alive and healthy! The answer is Defensive Driving.

I first knew of it when I was chatting to a business manager who's company has an office in Libya. He mentioned that his employees who came to Libya and intended to drive, all had to attend defensive driving courses to avoid road accidents. I thought that was a great idea at the time and I wished there were such courses in Libya.
The great news is there now is! I just found out that a company runs a defensive driving course in Tripoli, Libya called ALOZONE:

شركة الأوزون للحلول التقنية

The ad for their Defensive driving course is on this link:

دورة القيادة الأمنة

There is also incentive for young people because the certificate from the course will give them greater prospects for employment, which is an excellent incentive to join the course, in addition to the very important reason of being more safer on the roads.
It's great news, and I hope it improves the road safety situation in Tripoli.

I plan to write about defensive driving some time in the future inshala, for now you can check out this wikipedia article. Please also watch the above video for some advice on how to drive defensively.

I've pasted parts of the Arabic ad from the above company below. The course will be held in Tripoli for 2 days (from the 24th April 2010).

Disclosure: I have no affiliation with the company at all, nor do I have any financial interest from this post!!

دورة القيادة الأمنة

الهدف من هذه الدورة التدريبية هو زيادة وعى السائقين وتوسيع مداركهم عن طريق إمدادهم بمفاهيم أفضل تمكنهم من الوصول إلى معنى القيادة الأمنة .هذا بالإضافة إلى توفير عدة نصائح متنوعة لتفادي الحوادث .

حيث تمنحك هذه الدورة أولوية العمل لدى الشركات و المؤسسات لما تمثله السلامة المهنية من أساسيات و خصوصا في الإدارات الحديثة و مجالات النفط و الغاز و المجال الصناعي.

الموضوعات الرئيسية :

• أهمية الأمن الصناعي والسلامة كسلوك يومي .
• كيفية تفادى حوادث السيارات .
• كيفية القيام بفحص السيارة.
• أسباب وقوع حوادث السيارات .
• الأساليب الفنية للقيادة الآمنة .

من هم المستفيدون بهذه الدورة التدريبية :

• جميع سائقي مختلف أنواع السيارات
• • المادة العلمية:

  1- العقل والإحساس

• الشكل العام .
• الملاحظة .
• التوقع .
• فهم المخاطر.
• التخطيط والتنفيذ ( السلوك)

2- حالة السـائق

• الإرهاق .
• المخدرات والكحوليات.
• الأدوية.
• حالة السائق الصحية التى يمكنها ان تتأثر بقدراته الابصارية .بأمراض ضغط الدم او أضربات النوم .

3- الأخطاء والانتهاكات الشائع حدوثها أثناء القيادة

• عدم القدرة على سرعة ملاحظة الاخطار .
• السـرعــة .
• إساءة تقدير سرعة الآخرين.
• العبور خلال الإشارات الحمراء .
• محاولات اجتياز خاطئة .
• موقع الطريق السيئ .
• عدم الوعي بالطريق وغياب الإشارات .
• استخدام الموبايل أثناء القيادة .

4- الظروف البيئية المصاحبة للقيادة بالموقع

• الإحصائيات القومية .
• إحصائيات الشركة .
• شروط الطريق العام .
• الظروف المناخية والبيئية .
• شروط السيارات المحلية .
• أسلوب القيادة المتعارف علية بالمكان .

5- شاهد وتعايش

• الإلمام بخصائص الطرق المستخدمة .
• استخدام المرئيات .
• الرؤية الخارجية .
• الاعتماد على جميع الحواس كالسمع والشم واللمس .

6- الخطة المتبعة أثناء القيادة

• التعرف على الخطر وتحديده .
• اختيار الأساليب الفنية الملائمة للوصول إلى القيادة الدفاعية .
• إدراك وفهم القيادة الدفاعية.
• كيفية تطبيق خطة القيادة .
• وضعية السرعة وبدال البنزين .

7- أنظمة الأمان للسيارة

• حزام الأمان .
• نظام الفرامل.
• الفرانتونة .
• كرسى الأطفال .
• جهاز التحكم في السرعة .

8- قبل القيادة (فورمه فحص السيارة )

• حالة السيارة اليومي وفحص أجهزة الأمان .
• الصيانة الأساسية.

9- التحكم في السيارة خارج الطريق

• بدال البنزين .
• تصريح /انتظار .
• استخدام ناقل السرعات ( الفتيس )
• الدركسيون .
• مواضيع الطريق .
• خط الموقع .
• الزاوية .
• موضوع المتابعة .
• موضوع التجاوز . .

Sir Ken Robinson: Schools killing creativity?

Further to my post from May of this year about creativity and education, in which I posted Sir Ken Robinson's very funny and inspiring TED lecture on this subject (click here to see). I post below a recent two part interview of Ken Robinson by Riz Khan on Aljazeera English.
An excellent interview, I hope people of influence on Education in Libya are willing to learn a few points.
The problem with the Arab world generally speaking and specifically in Libya is that we are slow to pick up on modern educational methods.
Children are asked to cram enormous amounts of mostly useless information, which they will probably never benefit from, and are then asked to regurgitate it at the end of the year. This "information" is then quickly forgotten during the summer holidays and the flawed education cycle starts again the next so called "academic" year. This is true for almost all of the Arab countries.
The established Arab way of teaching is through indoctrination. Creativity is neither encouraged or rewarded. Teachers are poorly trained and the ones that do their jobs well are very poorly paid and are not encouraged to develop and maintain their skills. Our kids try to learn in a backward and harsh system in which their creativity at best is stifled or ridiculed.
The result, (leaving oil revenues aside) the entire Arab world has the lowest economical and scientific development contributions in the world, barring Sub-Saharan Africa.
Oil for me doesn't count, it's not hard earned money and it's a finite commodity, the real worth is in well educated, hard working, skilled and creative populations. In fact, oil has probably been more of a curse than a blessing. History will probably prove this.
Education is the key to future prosperity, and we are always behind. When our faulty system does produce people who are creative, intelligent and productive it's mostly due to their inherent talent not through the education they get, and the sad thing is the economical system is not geared to retain these people.
The people who end up being creative and productive tend to barely survive the system rather than being a product of it. And if they do survive it, they either go abroad to thrive or stay and die a slow intellectual and financial death. Look across the board, across all the Arab countries and you will see 22 very similar pictures. And I mean across all the Arab world, whether oil rich or not. In fact, ironically non-oil rich countries tend to do slightly better in comparison despite their very limited resources.
One example to prove that people can bring more prosperity than oil will ever do, is that Spain's GDP is more than that of the entire Arab world's combined GDP! 45 million people produce more than 300 million people, oil revenue included!!
I apologise if I sound harsh, I'm sure there are small exceptions in the system, but most studies and opinions on the Arab world are more harsher and critical. I sincerely wish things were better.
Unless the Arab world realises and tackles these challenges, the future of the whole region will be very bleak indeed.


Part 1:


Part2:


References:
1- The Arab World: Let the Numbers Speak! UNDP, 2002.
2- BBC News: Arab education 'falling behind', 22 Feb. 2008.

Tragedy again: Another 9 dead in a taxi crash

I just heard that 9 people died in a taxi crash. The accident happened on Tripoli Airport road, within the outskirts of Tripoli, Libya.

Why? Careless taxi driver and speeding, and to top it all up he had a full propane gas cylinder inside the taxi, with 7 passengers on board. His careless driving lead to the accident, which may have resulted in an explosion of the gas cylinder leading to an inferno, and the horrible death of all the occupants and the driver of the car he collided with on the other side of the road.

Apparently the "emergency services" had a difficult time reaching the accident site because of the overcrowding on the roads. Congested roads within Tripoli have become a huge issue in Libya, further increasing the danger of the already unsafe roads.
As you can see in the video above (time 2:20), some people found the accident rather amusing, many even stopped to take photos and video the dead people, delaying emergency work. Disgusting behavior, what is the world coming to?! Shame on them! This kind of attitude sickens me, these people should have been arrested and punished for their abhorrent behavior.

So the important question: Why this again? 36 people died last month in another accident involving public transport. I think we know some of the answers and this will continue until something is done about road safety in Libya. There is still no tangible activity from the authorities to try to tackle the biggest killer of young people in Libya.
As for the families of the deceased my sympathies go out to them, may Allah bless those who lost their lives with jenna and may Allah forgive the careless driver and the licensing authorities whom both directly and indirectly caused this horrific accident.

Libyan Bus Accident, 36 Dead سلامة الطرق ليبيا

As mentioned in my previous post, a recent coach (bus) accident, resulted in 36 deaths, 9 severe injuries near the town of Mizda, south of Tripoli. Road death/injury statistics are getting worse in Libya, this kind of accident shows us why this is happening.
This is a clip from an official Libyan TV program that covered the accident. The accident resulted from a combination of things which all could have been prevented had there been a proper road safety policy. The main reasons for the accident according to the program is the dangerous driving by the bus driver (speeding), very bad road conditions (disrepair) and from a driver who was driving an overloaded truck very slowly, the three factors met on a bridge, with the speeding bus suddenly facing a very slow truck, the bus driver tried to avoid the slow truck and in the process lost control and dropped 5-6 meters from the bridge on to the ground below, resulting in the 36 deaths and 9 severe injuries.
In the video some of the survivors said that they tried to warn the bus driver several times to slow down and to drive more safely, one passenger, who suffered multiple fractures, said he nearly disembarked prior to the accident because of the dangerous way the bus was being driven, unfortunately he didn't, but luckily he survived the accident unlike the 36 passengers who lost their lives.

This will not stop, it will continue unless something active is done to prevent further tragedies.

One can draw conclusions from the TV program regarding why these accidents and deaths happen:
1-Inadequate Road Safety enforcement.
2-Unsafe drivers being allowed to drive, a crime, especially if it's a truck/bus/taxi driver whose bad conduct or driving can lead to devastating consequences as in this case. In the rest of the world, vocational drivers have stringent licence and health requirements and are followed up very closely, this obviously is not the case Libya, this needs to be addressed very quickly.
3-Unsafe under-maintained archaic roads.
4- Lack of a properly run traffic police service, with no modern training and not enough facilities and support.
5-Below international standard emergency response teams and health care.

Please read the following two letters posted in the Libyan Journal of Medicine (click here and here), they offer an excellent insight and some solutions to the problem, but more research is needed.
Many may say that the root cause of this tragedy was the careless bus driver, but it's not that simple, the main reason is the licensing system that lead him to obtain a license which allowed him, an unfit person to be responsible for the lives of others and tragically responsible for their deaths as well. This needs to be investigated by the authorities and not merely dismissed as just another tragic unavoidable accident. This is not the first time this has happened, and alas if things continue as they are now, this will not be the last accident which will lead to so many deaths.

Let's hope that these peoples deaths will not be in vain. I hope the above issues can be addressed by the authorities and I hope all Libyans will begin to contribute to the safety of their roads.
Again my sympathies go out to the families of the dead and may Allah bless the deceased with paradise.

Bus Crash Kills 36 outside Tripoli/Libya

I just read the shocking and horrible news of an RTA in Libya, I've posted the news item below in red text.
When will these accidents stop? When will some one do something to improve the standards of road safety in Libya? More stringent regulations are needed and tough laws introduced and enforced to prevent the high death and injury rates in our beloved country. Too many have died and sadly this won't stop until something is done to improve the safety of our roads. May Allah give mercy to those that have died and my sincere condolences go out to the families of the deceased, may Allah give them patience at this difficult time.

When will people be shocked enough to do something about this terrible situation? If nothing is done, many others will continue to die.

Road deaths are preventable, one death is one to many, that's what we don't seem to understand.
What is happening now in Libya in terms of road safety is catastrophic and getting worse, this needs to be addressed and it's mainly due to a lack of a proper modern scientific road safety policy. This should be a priority and it should be investigated immediately, or eventually according to the grim statistics people reading this may one day be part of these very statistics. I am sure there are very good and humane people within the authorities who are also very concerned, please I urge you to do more to improve road safety in our country, there is a lot of knowledge out there to assist you and many people who can contribute to improving the issue. Please don't let these 36 people who have died become just another statistic, let them be a wake up call to do some thing about this very sad situation.

The news reports in Arabic and English (Links here and here):

مقتل 36 شخصا واصابة 9 في حادث مروري في ليبيا

Apr 11, 2008 - 09:30 - ليبيا/حادث/ضحايا .

طرابلس في 11 ابريل /وام/

لقي 36 شخصا مصرعهم وأصيب 9 آخرون بجراح في حادث مروري مروع وقع فجر اليوم على طريق وادي سوف الجين بمدينة مزدة بشعبية غريان الليبية. وأرجعت مصادر إدارة العلاقات باللجنة الشعبية العامة للأمن العام الحادث إلى اصطدام حافلة لنقل الركاب كانت في طريقها من مدينة سبها إلى طرابلس بسيارة نقل خفيف الأمر الذي أدى إلى انحراف الحافلة عن مسارها وتدحرجها وسقوطها بالوادي.. موضحة أن السرعة وعدم التقيد بقواعد وإشارات المرور سبب وقوع الحادث

Libya bus crash kills 36 people outside Tripoli

Fri 11 Apr 2008, 17:46 GMT

TRIPOLI, April 11 (Reuters) - At least 36 people were killed on Friday when a bus in which they were travelling collided with a car outside the Libyan capital Tripoli, the official news agency Jana quoted the Interior Ministry as saying.

Nine other passengers were injured, five of them seriously, it said, adding that the dead and the injured were from several foreign countries.

The bus hit the car coming from the opposite direction and then veered off the road and plunged into a river near Mazda town, outside Tripoli, Jana said. The authorities blamed reckless driving for the accident, it added.

Road Safety: New Libyan Road Safety Videos

Some very positive news! I just found these new road safety videos posted on Youtube, all to do with Road Safety, and yes, all made in Libya. A very POSITIVE step in the right direction and they are pretty good as well. Please take some time to look at them. I hope this continues, and I hope people will follow the advice given.
AngloLibyan, can I ask a huge favor again, could you please post them on your blog as well, as people are more likely to see them on your blog, thank you.

Speed Kills (1):


Speed Kills (2):


Mobile Phones and driving (1):


Mobile phones and driving (2):


Seat belts (1):


Seat Belts (2):

مؤتمر وطني بليبيا لدق ناقوس الخطر حول حوادث المرور

I Just read a news item on AlJazeera.net regarding road traffic accidents in Libya. It's an interesting read, I posted the article below and you can find the original here.
There is a plan to organise a conference on road traffic accidents in Libya due to the high death/injury rates which seems to increase on a yearly basis.
I wish them the best, we need to do more to try to reduce this high death rate on our roads. I hope they can learn from others and implement what they learnt and as soon as possible. According to the WHO we have one of the highest Road deaths rates in the region.

الجزيرة نت- خالد المهير- بنغازي
أمام الارتفاع المخيف لعدد ضحايا حوادث السير تعتزم السلطات الليبية إقامة مؤتمر لبحث المشكلة من مختلف جوانبها مع السعي إلى طرحه على المستوى الدولي لدق ناقوس الخطر على أوسع مدى

ويتوقع أن يقام المؤتمر الوطني الأول لحوادث الطرق في الخامس من مايو/أيار المقبل في بنغازي ليكون مناسبة لإطلاع الرأي العام على حقيقة الأرقام والإحصائيات المخيفة حسب تعبيرات المسؤولين.

وفي هذا الصدد وصف مدير إدارة المرور بمدينة بنغازي عاشور شوايل مؤشرات ارتفاع معدلات حوادث الطرق بالمخيفة، مشيرا إلى أن الحوادث عام 2007 أدت إلى وفاة 2138 شخصا.

وأوضح شوايل في حديث مع الجزيرة نت أن 3670 حادثا ترتب عليها 5950 إصابة بليغة تعني الوفاة لاحقا.

وأكد شوايل أن هذه المؤشرات دفعت إلى التفكير جديا في إقامة مؤتمر وطني في ليبيا مع السعي لتدويله من أجل تسليط الضوء على الظاهرة ودق ناقوس الخطر.

وأورد المسؤول أرقاما تشير إلى أن الحوادث التي شهدتها البلاد بين 2003 و2007 أدت إلى وفاة 9330 شخصا، وتضرر 77507 سيارات، وقدر حجم الأضرار بحوالي 81 مليون دولار.

ويعزو المسؤولون الليبيون ارتفاع نسبة الحوادث لعدة أسباب أبرزها سلوك السائقين، والمشاة، والسرعة الفائقة، إضافة إلى تصميم الطرق ووضع العلامات الإرشادية أحيانا.


عاشور شوايل وصف معدلات حوادث المرور في ليبيا بالمخيفة (الجزيرة نت)
انخفاض نسبي
ولاحظ المقدم محمد الجازوي وهو مسؤول في نقطة التحقيق بمستشفى الجلاء لطب وجراحة الحوادث ببنغازي أن الفترة الأخيرة شهدت انخفاضا كبيرا في الحوادث مقارنة مع الأعوام الماضية.

وذكر الجازوي في حديث للجزيرة نت أن الانخفاض يعود لإغلاق الفتحات العشوائية في الطرق الرئيسية والفرعية التي كانت سببا مباشرا في عدد كبير من الحوادث.

وأفاد مصدر طبي بأن مستشفى الجلاء ببنغازي استقبل في الفترة الممتدة من 1 يناير/ كانون الثاني 2007 إلى 30 نوفمبر/ تشرين الثاني من العام نفسه 17948 شخصا أصيبوا في الحوادث بينهم 2300 إصابتهم بالغة.

ولاحظ نفس المصدر أن أعلى نسبة حوادث تسجل في الفترة ما بين يونيو/حزيران وديسمبر/كانون الأول خاصة في فترات العطل حيث ترتفع حدة الضغط في المرور بسبب النزهات والمناسبات الاجتماعية.

يشار إلى أن ليبيا تحتل الترتيب الثاني بعد عمان من حيث عدد الحوادث، حسب آخر إحصائيات منظمة الصحة العالمية الأخيرة

Ahmed Fakroun أحمد فكرون

I've long loved and listened to this outstanding musician. He has for a long time inspired and contributed to the modern Libyan and Arabic music scene, this contribution hasn't been recognised or acknowledged enough, I hope it will be soon.
I've just discovered that he's just started his own Youtube channel!! I'm very happy that he's still active and I hope he continues to be.
The above video is of a new song included in his channel, it's called "Sayad". I also include other songs from him below.
Just a reminder; I used one of his songs on my first video "Ya Bladi", which at the time was the first song of his to be put up on YouTube.
His new channel can be found here.
More information about Ahmed can be found here.

Other great songs from Ahmed (Found in the LibyanMusic Channel):

Ya Blaadi:

Laylil Alsahraneen:

Shibakik:

Road Safety: My new video

Further to the Libyan road safety issue, I've made a simple video with a simple message, basically that Road safety is every body's responsibility. I hope you find it useful.

Tripoli Museum: Omar Mukhtar's eye glasses

As promised in an earlier post, I wanted to post more photo's of my visit to the Tripoli museum "Mat-haf Asaraya".

One of the exhibits was the actual eye glasses of our hero the Martyer (Shaheed) Omar Mukhtar, the picture is shown above. I had a weird sensation (of awe) when I saw the exhibit, especially when you realise that the glasses were actually worn by our national hero, a physical reminder of the great man! They also had his sword on show.

May Allah bless his soul.

Road Safety: The Tragedy

I tried to tone down the above picture as much as I could, I assure you the original picture is more horrific and I have seen worse in real life. I sincerely apologise to any reader if I have offended or shocked, I do so with the best of intentions, some times only shock can bring home the all important message, it also makes this message stay in your mind for longer.

I don't know the particulars of the above picture, but its been widely distributed among people via bluetooth. The accident most likely was in Libya, and bears a sickening resemblance to the Road Safety campaign video I posted yesterday. What are the causes of this accident? I don't know, but I can safely assume that there was 100% chance it could have been prevented. Speed, lack of attention and safety awareness are all plausible causes.

Road traffic accidents are not decreasing they are on the increase, and this is especially so in Libya. For people who have not been to Libya for years, you will not believe the bad nature of driving, the roads are an absolute death trap! The amount of cars has increased exponentially, and the roads are still the same if not worse. And the road rage, especially among the young is rife and getting worse! All of this in an almost unnoticeable traffic regulatory system. The traffic police need effective training, resources, power and protection in order to carry out their essential work. This needs to be done now.

The problem of road deaths and injuries is a global one, quoting from the world bank site on road safety (which you can access here): "Every year more than 1.17 million people die in road crashes around the world. The majority of these deaths, about 70 percent occur in developing countries. Sixty-five percent of deaths involve pedestrians and 35 percent of pedestrian deaths are children. Over 10 million are crippled or injured each year. It has been estimated that at least 6 million more will die and 60 million will be injured during the next 10 years in developing countries unless urgent action is taken." Furthermore: "The Global Burden of Disease study undertaken by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Harvard University and the World Bank showed that in 1990, traffic crashes were assessed to be the world's ninth most important health problem. The study forecasts that by the year 2020 road crashes would move up to third place in the table of leading causes of death and disability facing the world community."

The current table of leading causes of death and disability:

In Libya, the problem is that most people seem to take and accept this reality as an inevitable and unpreventable fate. Scientific proof says other wise, road traffic accidents and their often gruesome consequences can be prevented.
I believe that every one has a responsibility towards their and other peoples safety. The government has a huge role in this and I hope that they begin to adopt the modern scientific methods in counteracting this huge killer.

If any one of responsibility is reading this, I urge you to read the World bank and the WHO's advice on the matter and their guidance on how to implement an effective Road traffic safety system, any work you do will not only save others but may/can save you or your family!

Again, I apologise for posting the above picture if it has offended any one, and I hope we can learn from it and this tragic death which repeats its self more than 2500 times a year in Libya (and increasing) and more than a million times a year globally.

Did mummies come from Libya?

Hi every one, I have been off for some time now! Hope you guys didn't miss me!

I've been on holiday to Libya, and recently I have been to the Tripoli museum, "Mat-haf Asaraya". The last time I went there was over 16 years ago! Nothing has changed much, but its still an amazing place to visit, I recommend it to any one! Libya is so full of history.

Now, you may question the title of this post, about the "mummies", well apart from taking my brother along to show him around, I wanted to see one particular item, which over 16 years ago, when I was a young teenager, didn't even stop to look closely at. In fact not many people know the significance of this exhibit (which I took a picture of, as shown above).

This exhibit was recently brought to my attention by a TV programme I saw while living abroad, an hour long program about this major archaeological find almost 50 years ago now.

As you walk in the initial parts of the museum, there stands a Small glass box, inside this box lie the remains of a child. The child was discovered inside a leather sac covered with dried plants in 1958 in the south of Libya in the "Akakous" mountains area. So what, I hear you say? Well this poor child is probably the oldest, most complete mummy in the world thus far! Approximately over 5400 years old (Carbon 14 was used to determine this age). Yes, even older than the famous Egyptian mummies!! The Italian researchers who studied this child have a theory that the art of mummification that the Egyptians perfected actually originated in Libya! Interesting or what?!

I hope the museum can be expanded. I noticed the lack of information (both in Arabic or English) about the exhibits, I also hope this can be resolved soon.

I have some more interesting photos of other items, I will try to post them soon Allah willing.

Addendum 2010: More websites on Libyan Mummies:
1-Temehu: Wan Muhuggiag (Muhjaij)
2-Libya Expeditions: The Uan Muhuggia Mummy
3-Mathilda’s Anthropology Blog: The six thousand year old mummies from Takarkori, Libya
4- Wiki Article: Uan Muhuggiag

Road Safety سلامة الطرق

One of my aims in this blog is to open up discussions regarding a few issues of importance. One of these issues is ROAD SAFETY, or the "lack of". You may have guessed this from the links on my blog (please have a look at them).

It’s very sad that especially in Libya, so many people die, many of whom are young and many, many more are left seriously injured and incapacitated for life. Living abroad and going back home from time to time; the first thing a person is shocked by is the way people drive, starting from the airport! Many people don't have any sense of safety at all. This attitude and disregard for road safety seems to get worse every year, which tragically translates to loss of life and serious injury for many people. Looking across the Arab and developing world, the situation doesn't seem to be much more different, although statistics and studies seem to be lacking or difficult to access.
Arabic websites? I couldn't find any that are dedicated to road safety! Please tell me if there are any.
In Libya and most of the Arab countries, especially the more affluent ones, road deaths are one of the biggest causes (if not the biggest!) of death in the younger age groups.
The situation is getting worse and this is further compounded by the lack of regard from people and the "Kada wa Kader(fate)" attitude that people have. Drive at 200km/hr, kill a family, its "Kada wa kader", no its not, its manslaughter. Yes there is "kada wa kader", but also Allah asked us to be respectful of life and not to take risks that endanger anyone’s life.

All in all it’s a huge problem that needs to be tackled, but I firmly believe education and awareness is one of the most important ways of doing this. If there is away to we can contribute towards this, it will make an impact, and please don't underestimate any form of impact, if it saves one life, that will be enough. Many of our young people, whole families even, have perished on our roads. I hope people can start taking care and try to contribute to the safety of their roads thus the safety of their families.

Hopefully in the near future I can discuss ways of doing this and please if any one has any suggestion please feel free to contribute. The main emphasis here is not to complain, or to theorise about the issue, that won’t get us anywhere! The main goal is to find people who can contribute, i.e. setting up an Arabic web site, that contributes to the matter, translates major studies and solutions, online safety posters that can be printed by people to distribute, I’m sure there are a lot of translators out there. I’m sure there are a lot of ways, there are a lot of talented people. I repeat, please no moaning about the problem is “that and that’s fault”, we need practical answers that people can contribute towards.

Positive practical contribution is the key, not negative criticism.

If you click on one of the links I have listed “Children’s Traffic Club” from the UK, it emphasizes the importance of teaching children early, guess what? No similar Arabic or Libyan websites, any one out there who can do the same? There are a lot of talented people out there in Libya and the Arab world who can contribute and build such websites. If you can, please help. This contribution will eventually have an impact.

A website may be a small step, but none-the-less it is a step. I am sure there are many other ideas that simple people like you and me can think of and more importantly apply to help make our roads safer. Although I am specifying Libya here, this does apply to the whole world, but unfortunately in our part of the world its a huge problem that people seem to disregard and be complacent about. This ignorance has lead to huge suffering. I hope to raise awareness of this with the help of others. Remember: ONE death, ONE injury is ONE too many! All of them are preventable.

Last but not least please Drive Safely!