Road deaths in Tunisia have increased by more than 30 per cent in the first few month of this year compared to the same period last year, National Observatory for Traffic Safety data shows.
As of April 20, a total of 317 people were reported dead and 1,987 injured, the observatory’s spokesman Mourad Jouini told Mosaïque radio on Monday.
Mr Jouini noted that despite the lower number of accidents compared to last year, there had been a remarkable increase in deaths.
The most common causes for accidents were speeding, not conforming to traffic signs and drink-driving.
But motorists have also complained that improvements to basic infrastructure are necessary to accommodate the increasing number of vehicles on the roads.
One driver, Mayssa Zitouni, 25, told The National: “The roads cannot accommodate us any more, the number of cars is increasing and people start breaking the law just to get away from traffic whenever they're stuck.
“We lack basic street signs, traffic lights sometimes don’t function and some roads don’t even have clear designated lanes and you just find yourself lost out there."
The latest data indicates the majority of the accidents take place in Tunis, which is the most densely populated region, followed by Nabeul, Gafsa and Mahdia governorates.
“It’s truly a forest out there, if you already know the road you’re good, if you don’t, you’ll face lots of surprises,” Ms Zitouni said.
She also believes that women face more challenges on the road in Tunisia due inherent sexism.
“People feel like they are in some sort of competition … I was driving once and a guy with a bigger vehicle overtook my car and intentionally kept driving slowly to hinder me … I do not see that happening whenever my father is driving, for instance,” she said.
Ms Zitouni said such behaviour puts everyone in danger and pushes even the most peaceful person to act in a similar way merely to survive on the way back home.
“Combining all these elements [drivers’ behaviour and road conditions] together gives us a dangerous combo that could explain the situation,” she said.
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Family: a daughter in Egypt; a son in Dubai and his wife, Nabila
Favourite Abu Dhabi activity: walking near to Emirates Palace
Favourite building in Abu Dhabi: Emirates Palace
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WHAT IS GRAPHENE?
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were experimenting with sticky tape and graphite, the material used as lead in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But when they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics.
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Liverpool 3
Mane (7'), Salah (69'), Firmino (90')
Bournemouth 0
MATCH INFO
Wales 1 (Bale 45 3')
Croatia 1 (Vlasic 09')
The National in Davos
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1 tbsp Spirulina powder
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• A nationalist, his campaign slogan was Poland First. "Let's help others, but let's take care of our own citizens first," he said on social media in April.
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Company Fact Box
Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019
Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO
Based: Amman, Jordan
Sector: Education Technology
Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed
Stage: early-stage startup
Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.
