Posted all over Rabat last week were campaign signs featuring internationally-known Moroccan actor Said Taghmaoui (left) calling for safer driving in Morocco. A television ad shows Taghmaoui with a young girl - he pins a bright yellow button on her jacket (I didn't get a chance to read the text but Hamza tells me it has to do with driving safely and respecting children) and sends her off to school. The campaign signs stated that February 18th was a national day for driving safely. Despite obvious jokes - "You mean you only have to drive safely in Morocco one day out of the year?" - the campaign is much needed in a country with an alarming death toll from motor vehicle accidents.
An article published today by Maghreb Arab Presse states that "Morocco has decided to set up a system of e-logbook and e-driving license as off this coming June part of an aggressive nationwide campaign to boost road safety and reduce forgery cases and corruption."
Excellent! I can't think of a trip where Hamza wasn't pulled over for something stupid, then pardoned but asked to pay the police officer "a little something" in exchange for not officially reporting him to the police. Although Hamza won't stand for it and never gives what Moroccans call (incorrectly) "corruption," I've found that he's a rare case. Most of my other friends who drive on a regular basis say that not only have they paid a police officer in exchange for not being reported, but that they don't see the problem in doing so.
And as for the Moroccan driver's licenses, well, a pink tri-fold, roughly laminated piece of paper with handwritten information and a stapled-on photograph leaves quite a bit of room for improvement. Considering that Morocco plans to be the first country to biometricize their national identity cards, you'd think that they could do something to improve the technology of driver's licenses.
An excellent initiative, though I don't believe this is the first attempt at such a thing. Hopefully, this time they'll follow through.
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