The motorist was ordered detained for four days pending investigation by the country's Public Prosecution after a video went viral on social media showing him driving on the highway with the left front door open.
The motorist, who was swerving between lanes carelessly and cutting off other drivers, was rear-ended by a trailer truck and then was pulled over by other drivers on the road before he was caught by police.
According to a statement released by the Public Prosecution, the man was arrested with alcohol and narcotic drugs in his possession, and also tested positive for drugs as per a medical report issued by a public hospital.
The man is accused of driving in a way that endangers the lives of others, cutting off other passing vehicles on the road and, as a result, causing damage to one of them, the prosecution statement pointed out.
The prosecution also said that the man was not carrying a driving license at the time and violated traffic rules and regulation.
The driver admitted to driving recklessly, but without elaborating on the motives behind his acts, the prosecution said, adding that it ordered him to be tested for drugs by the country's Forensic Medicine Authority.
Egypt has tightened it traffic laws recently and is also forging ahead with the National Road Project in order to improve the country’s road network and reduce deadly accidents.
By 2019, Egypt climbed to 28th place in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report in terms of the quality of its road infrastructure, compared to 118th place in 2014.
The country recorded a 9.3 percent drop in traffic injuries in 2021 compared to 2020, according to a recent report released by the country’s Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) in July 2022.
The number of traffic injuries across Egypt in 2021 was 51,511, down from 2020’s 56,789, the CAPMAS report said.
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