mutual ignorance

The logical relationship that should unite drivers and pedestrians is one of cooperation, synergy, and concession sometimes, due to temporary considerations, such as omission, emergency pressure, and others. However, the actual relationship in Moroccan roads, alleys, and streets is one of stubbornness, clash, and denial of the other, which results in unfortunate accidents. In the traffic law, the pedestrian enjoys wide rights in terms of responsibility because he is not protected, so he is always right, and if the new traffic code set fines for him when violating, it was only applied in an occasional way.

The driver does not recognize the right of the pedestrian in all cases, even when there are lanes of his own, oh God if the elements of road control are within sight, and there are pedestrians who recklessly enjoy their right and find themselves under the wheels of a vehicle that exceeds the speed of sixty in the urban orbit. And when we go back to the statistics of the victims of the road war, pedestrians and cyclists are at the top of the list. It is assumed that he is considered a criminal who drives over the path of two pedestrians at a speed of more than twenty kilometers per hour, because the possibility of killing and wounding is unquestionable. Hence, the vehicle turns into a tool of intentional or unintentional crime, by making recklessness an intentional behavior in this crime. And what increases the level of danger for pedestrians are those who take over the side of the road designated for pedestrians, such as cafes, restaurants, shops, butterflies, and others, and who boast that they are paying for the occupation of the public domain. It is a crime involving backward urban groups.

But the Moroccan man is not that innocent citizen who is conscious and disciplined about the rules of traffic, because he crosses the road from all places, and when he crosses it, he takes an inclined path, and does not reach the other side except after an eternity, in which the “bitterness” of the driver is close to exploding. It also does not recognize the lights assigned to it. The red one stops because the vehicles have their green lights on, and the green ones pass because the vehicles have their red lights on. This system is not recognized, and this creates unspeakable chaos, especially in the busy streets. Even when he takes advantage of his right to his own places of passage, he walks at ease, as if he is leaving the salon to go to the kitchen, and how many pedestrians stop completely in the middle of the road exchanging parties to talk, while the civilized use of the road is supposed for the man to pass, neither trotting nor “unsteady.” It may occur to some angry drivers to attack this type of pedestrian in their vehicles in a retaliatory behavior that they do not know the extent of its seriousness, because the driver may be accused of premeditated murder without notice.

The tense relationship between the man and the driver does not exist only in Morocco, but it is a human behavior known to the whole world. However, road monitoring differs from one country to another, according to the level of civilization and civilization, because leaving the man without awareness or punishment must result in this tragic clash. It is the duty of society to program civilized behavior on the path in the wires of education, by focusing on primary and preparatory courses, and through seasonal training with the participation of the National Security and the Royal Gendarmerie, and theoretical lessons offered to students by these authorities. As well as the intensification of radio and television programs aimed at educating citizens on the basics of using the road.

I have seen pedestrians enter the motorway without a sense of danger as if they were crossing a normal road, while the accident on the motorway leaves other accidents that are multiple and serious because of the high speed that reaches 120 kilometers per hour. Some of them are from their ignorance and some from the hardship they suffer from in the absence of overpasses or underpasses, and it is the duty of the state to work on a demographic study of the population close to the highway in order to remove this embarrassment.

The road is a common area between citizens, on foot and drivers, and it is good citizenship that the road is used with awareness, insight and a lot of tolerance, and overcoming the mistakes of the other, because this is preserving the spirit or safety of the body, and an expression of a high level of civilization that we are proud of in front of nations.