Finally new rules. Let's pray they are heavily enforced.

http://addisfortune.com/addisfortunenews.htm. Scroll down..

what are the rules motorists in addis should observe?

Drivers are not permitted to drive without fastening their seatbelts anywhere in Addis Abeba. So, get used to it.

The law on mobile phone usage is clear when it comes to using headsets and Bluetooth devices, drivers are not allowed to use their mobile phones while driving.

The unconscionable act of watching movies and television while driving is now forbidden.

If drivers and passengers are accustomed to buying or giving alms on the road or at traffic lights it is time to let go of that custom, as it is the driver who will pay the fine.

Life is fragile crossing over ring-road barriers and railings as has been evidenced. And now it is an offence to the law.

The lane lines are painted white to be observed and respected; if these are not obeyed the driver will be charged.

Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs is beyond suicidal. It can also be homicidal, so think twice before doing so. It is obligatory.

Pedestrians who cross the road disregarding the zebra crossing will be fined for the act.

nice, now if only people can follow the rules.

ይህንን ያህል ጊዜ መውሰዱ የሚገርም ቢሆንም ድንጋጌው ድንቅ ነው። አውሮፓውያን እንደሚሉት "ከመቅረት ማርፈድ ይሻላል"

የመንገድ ቀጣና (road lane) ምልክቶች ከዱሮ ጀምረው ያሉ ቢሆንም፣ ምክንያት በማይገኝለት ሁኔታ የከተማው የተሽከርካሪ ቁጥጥር ባለሥልጣን በሥራ ላይ እንዲውል ክትትሉን አላደረገም። ኢትዮጵያ እያለሁ ለ 8 አመታት ያህል መኪና ነድቻለሁ። በዚያን ግዜ የለመደብኝ የጎዳና ቀጣና ምልክት አለማክበር ጠባይ ኬንያ ገብቼ መኪና መንዳት ስጀምር ለብዙ የግጭት አደጋ የዳረገኝ ነበር። እንደፈቀደኝ መንገዱ ላይ ስዋዥቅ አንድ ጊዜ በጣም የተበሳጨ ኬንያዊ አሽከርካሪ "እምቡዋ ዌዌ" ያለኝ አይረሳኝም። "አንተ ውሻ" ማለት ነው።

የከተማው የተጓዥ አስተዳደር፣ ህግን የሚጥሱ አሽክርካሪዎችም ሆኑ እግረኞች የትራፊክን ህግና ደህንነትን የሚያስቀድም የፀባይ ንቃት እዲያገኙ ከቅጣት ጋር የታቀፈ የትምህርት መስጫ መርሃ ግበር እንዲጀምር አስተያየት ልሰጥ እያሰብኩ ነው። እንደምናውቀው በአውሮፓ፣ ባጃፓንና በሌሎቹም ሃገራት ይህ እንደመደበኛ የተያዘ ዘዴ ነው።

Well they are going to be fining violators. Hopefully the fines will be high enough that they will be serious deterrents. I'm not surprised you had a hard time in Kenya. Look how the taxi drivers in DC drive. They still can't get it right after 20-30 years in the US. It's a mentality chigir.

BTW, how do you get to type in Amharic? I have the Jiret font so I can read what others write, but I don't know how to use it to type. I used to have the GEEZ unicode software on my old computer and I could type just fine but this new one is a bit of a challenge. Admittedly, I'm yet to explore it since I just got it 2 days ago.

Well they are going to be fining violators. Hopefully the fines will be high enough that they will be serious deterrents. I'm not surprised you had a hard time in Kenya. Look how the taxi drivers in DC drive. They still can't get it right after 20-30 years in the US. It's a mentality chigir.

BTW, how do you get to type in Amharic? I have the Jiret font so I can read what others write, but I don't know how to use it to type. I used to have the GEEZ unicode software on my old computer and I could type just fine but this new one is a bit of a challenge. Admittedly, I'm yet to explore it since I just got it 2 days ago.

(font) ወይንም ቅርፀ-ቁምፊ የሚባለው ለማንበብ እንጂ ለማርትእ (edit) አይበጅም። ይህንን ለማድረግ የሚበጁ ተሰኪዎች (drivers) ማስገባት አለብህ። እነዚህን የጥቆማ ሰሌዳ ተስኪዎች (key board drivers) ይሏቸዋል። የተላያዩ አሉ። ከነዚህ ውስጥ እኔ የምጠቀመው (keyman/Amharic EZ) የሚባለውን ነው። ከዚህ http://keyboards.ethiopic.org/#Keyman6 ታገኘዋለህ። የምትጠቀምበት OS ቪሰታ ክሆን ድገሞ ዋሽራ የሚባል አለ። http://www.senamirmir.org/downloads/

""""""Pedestrians who cross the road disregarding the zebra crossing will be fined for the act."""""......what do u say , if they clean the area where they r found, not just 60 birr.

""""""Pedestrians who cross the road disregarding the zebra crossing will be fined for the act."""""......what do u say , if they clean the area where they r found, not just 60 birr.

እንደኔ ከሆነ ምርጫ እሰጣቸዋለሁ። ወይ መቀጫውን ክፈሉ ወይ የበደላችሁትን ማህበረሰብ በምትኖሩበት ቀበሌ አገልግሉ፣ ለተወሰነና ከጥፋቱ ጋር ለተመጣጠነ ግዜ። ለምሳሌ እንዳልከው

ከተማውን ማጽዳት፣ በተለይ ሽንት የሚሸናባቸውን ጥጎች ማጽዳት
የመተላለፊያ ስርዓት ህግጋትን የሚገልጽ ሰሌዳ ይዞ መቆም፣
ለተላላፊ መረጃ የሚሆን ብትን ማደል።

ቅንጅቱ የለም እንጂ፣ የጥፋት ነጥብ መያዣ ዘይቤ መኖርም አለበት።

ይኸው እኔ ለተወሰነ ግዜ ቅጣት፣ ሲያከናንቡኝ፣ አርፌ በተደነገገው የፍጥነት ወሰን ነው የምነዳው።

ሰክሬ መንዳትን ግን እንኳን ላደርገው አላስበውም፣ በፊት ተይዤ እያለ አፈርድሜ አብልተው ነው የለቀቁኝ፣ መፈጠሬን እስክጠላ ድረስ።

These regulations are starting to show results..

Death on Addis Ababa Streets Declines 22 Percent

Addis Ababa, the city known for losing one person per day on average due to traffic accident, reduced the catastrophe this year by about 22 percent as compared to last year. Seatbelt played key role says officer.

http://www.newbusinessethiopia.com/images/stories/aa%20annual%20death%20due%20to%20traffic%20accident.jpg

The statistics newbusinessethiopia.com received from the Addis Ababa Traffic Police Office shows that only 280 people died by car accident in 12 months of the fiscal year concluded July 7, 2010, while 357 people died the previous fiscal year (from July 8,2008 – July 7, 2009).

“The reduction is the result of continuous awareness raising programs we conducted along with other improvements such as the new traffic regulations and driving license issuing procedures,” says” Aseffa Mezgebu, Communication Head of the city’s traffic office.

“For instance, after we introduced the new traffic regulation of the city last December, which forced all car drivers to use seatbelt, we haven’t heard death of a single driver,” he said.

The statistics also shows that heavy injury has also reduced from 715 for fiscal year 2008/09, to 627 for the year 2009/10. Meanwhile, light injury has increased to 661 from it was at 575 during the above two years reviewed.

A total of 7,536 property damage was also reported from July 8, 2008 – July 7, 2009, while the figure is declined to 6,386 from July 8, 2009 – July 7, 2010.

These regulations are starting to show results..

387 people died in car accidents? Terrible, but I'm very glad to see a change.

387 people died in car accidents? Terrible, but I'm very glad to see a change.
It's still extremely high, considering the little traffic that exists for being a multi-million city, but at least it's going in the right direction..

Can't find the previous thread on the New Traffic Rules.

Anyway, here's an article


By Yohannes Anberbir

The Ministry of Transport and Communication (MoTC) has drafted a new directive that will discard the currently working driving license. If the directive gets the ministry’s approval, drivers with the old driving license will be forced to take the latest qualification test.

In 2008, the government had endorsed a new proclamation that made changes on the former process of licensing drivers. Individuals could take driving training on their own and their competence was measured by federal or regional transport bureau officials. But this method of certifying drivers has opened room for corruption, where transport bureau officials can easily certify drivers without proper qualification required to get the license.
This led the government to introduce a new method of licensing where individuals took driving trainings in authorized private schools and their competence is measured by a Circuit Television Camera (CTC).

The new qualification assessment has avoided direct involvement of Transport Bureau officials. Moreover the new licensing method brought classification of licenses under the categories of motor bicycle, private vehicle, taxi, public transport and heavy duty trucks and requires drivers to pass the qualification prepared for each category.

Also the document’s name will be changed formally: Driving License will hereby become: Drivers Qualification Certification License (QCL), which is expected to better reflect the individual’s driving capacity.

The Federal Transport Authority (FTA) has introduced the new licensing method since the last fiscal year and many new drivers are now issued their licenses through the new system. The authority allowed former licenses to be valid until MoTC authorized it to annul the former one.

Now the ministry has come up with a directive that will allow FTA to invalidate former licenses.

The draft directive has 14 pages and 21 articles that requires drivers to apply for the new license (QCL) at federal or regional transport offices where they were issued their former licenses.

Applicant’s former license will be verified from their personal records kept at transport offices. This verification will lead the offices to discern whether the applicant’s license is genuine or fake.

If the former license is found to be genuine, then the applicant will be allowed to take the latest qualification test upon payment at the transport office.

Successful applicants will receive the equivalent license of the new system, according to the draft bill.

If the former third level license is taken as an example, the drivers will be required to choose from the equivalent categories set in the new system which are; a public transport vehicle with 24 seats, taxi and a truck which has 7,000kg carrying capacity.

The driver will be penalized if found driving other category vehicles.
The directive will be approved within a few months and the FTA is required to change the former licenses to the new one within four years time, according to the directive.http://capitalethiopia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13444:all-drivers-to-be-tested-&catid=12:local-news&Itemid=4


I hope they are teaching them to use lanes, use signals, etc.

Wow, that's a HUGE step towards a more secure society. This article brought a smile to my face, it's nice seeing these positive reforms taking place recently.

But exact is a Circuit Television Camera? Are they going to follow the driver via cameras??

I think they mean they have security cameras in the authorized schools that will film the drivers. IOW, if it's suspected that the driver got his license without being competent (i.e. bribing), they can look through the film.

No, actually, the cameras are actually part of the qualification. That's how the tests are conducted. The driver is actually given the liberty of driving alone in the closed circuit and his/her qualification determined by the performance as observed through the monitoring cameras.

That said, this is exactly what I recommended they do. They are actually acting with some sense. I can't help be delighted.

No, actually, the cameras are actually part of the qualification. That's how the tests are conducted. The driver is actually given the liberty of driving alone in the closed circuit and his/her qualification determined by the performance as observed through the monitoring cameras.

Oh I see. Sounds good to me!!

But are the people evaluating them qualified? Are they going to focus on the basics like lanes, signals, etc?
The instructors and evaluators themselves need to be educated.