Keeping our Roads Safe

May 9, 2017 / Egypt

This week, Uber is joining the global safety community to participate in the UN’s Global Road Safety Week and raise awareness about the dangers of unsafe speeding.
Nearly 1.3 million lives are lost on the world’s roads each year, including a staggering 12, 000 in Egypt alone. Unsafe speeding, distraction while driving, and lack of road safety measures are the main contributing factors in many fatal crashes, in both emerging and established economies.
Realizing the magnitude of the problem in Egypt, Uber pledged to take positive action for safer Egyptian roads! We are proud to be launching our first Safety Driving Competition, powered by AXA, to reward the safest driver on the Uber platform.
Safety Driving Competition
Uber’s technology is continuously evolving and introducing new safety products starting with telematics last year – technology sensors that now monitor safety measures taken while on the road- and then Real-time ID check which launched in Egypt in March 2017.
All partner-drivers in Cairo are invited to participate in a one-month safety driving contest to win a grand prize, in addition to weekly prizes, all powered by AXA.
Partner-drivers’ driving style will be monitored using Uber’s telematics technology.
The winners will be required to exhibit safe driving behavior like:
Minimal phone movement
No harsh breaking
No harsh acceleration or speeding
In addition, we’d like to help raise awareness about speed and share some information from the World Health Organization:  
Inappropriate speed is a key risk factor for road traffic collisions, deaths and injuries: Exceeding the speed limit, or traveling too fast for road conditions can increase your chances of being in a crash. It’s harder for vehicles to safely stop or react to changing road conditions at unsafe speeds. Traveling at the appropriate speed can help drivers successfully avoid crashes. 
Speed management is everyone’s responsibility, and technology can help: There are a number of steps that all road users can take to help reduce the number of deaths and severe injuries due to speed. Technology can help – reminding drivers of their speed and safety features like automatic emergency braking are proven to help reduce fatalities and severe injuries. 
Governments play a key role and should work to design roads that balance mobility and safety: Enforcement is not the only way to help make road safer. Governments can build or modify roads include traffic calming feature, set speed limits that match type and mix of road users, and launch media campaigns to raise awareness. Comprehensive approaches that align with the local context can help. 
 
It’s important to always travel at a safe speed. We thank our partners in Cairo and Alexandria and all who drive with Uber for doing their part to make the roads safe. Details about the focus of this year’s road safety week are available here. And additional information about how Uber is working to use in-app features to help make roads safer is available here.
 

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