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The director of studies at the National Delegation for Road Safety (DNSR), Lahcen Boubka, sounded the alarm this Monday regarding the increase in road accidents and calls for collective awareness. He affirmed that, during the first eight months of this year, Algeria recorded 18,395 injury accidents, an increase of 0.89% compared to the same period of 2024, despite awareness-raising efforts and the strengthening of controls. The human toll remains heavy with 2,618 deaths, an increase of 0.5%, and 25,399 injured.
“Each injury, each death is an irreparable loss, a tragedy for families and a human and material cost for the country,” lamented the official on National Radio. He stressed that if the increase appears slight on a statistical level, it remains “unacceptable” on a human level. He adds that behind each figure lie “family tragedies, lifelong disabilities and an economic burden for the State and insurance companies”.
Concerning those responsible for this massacre, the observation is clear, more than 95% of accidents are due to the human factor. “Excess speed, dangerous maneuvers, non-compliance with the highway code, consumption of psychotropic drugs and driving while drunk,” lists Boubka, before quoting an evocative adage: “We drive as we drive ourselves.” To understand the root causes of this behavioral drift, the Delegation has also signed an agreement with the University of Tipasa in order to study the psychological and sociological causes of this phenomenon.
Statistics show that young people are the most affected, especially those who hold a license for less than five years. “We observed gaps in initial training,” explains Boubka. Faced with this observation, the DNSR updated the national training plan by integrating basic mechanics, first aid and economical driving courses. The hourly driving volume has also been increased, from 15 to 20 hours for category C and from 25 to 30 hours for category B.
This reform is accompanied by a strengthening of controls in driving schools, in collaboration with the wilaya transport directorates. “We have already carried out several inspection missions, particularly in Algiers, where the number of driving schools is the highest,” specifies the manager.
An aging vehicle fleet
If the human factor dominates, other causes worsen the situation, such as the state of the roads and the obsolescence of vehicles. According to the Delegation’s figures, 1.6% of accidents are due to road degradation, and 2.38% to the condition of the vehicle.
The study manager stressed that “since 2019, the lack of import of new vehicles and the scarcity of spare parts have made the national fleet extremely dilapidated”. This reality, combined with sometimes neglected technical control, multiplies the risks.
In this regard, he cited the example of a recently damaged coach, which “was running without authorization after a technical inspection was refused”. A situation that he describes as “extremely serious”.
Territorially, the Delegation identified 425 black spots across the 58 wilayas, including 224 already treated. These sections, where at least three accidents occur per year over a distance of 100 meters, require urgent interventions.
The wilayas of Mila and Tipasa are in the lead with 55 black points each, followed by 35 in Annaba, 18 in Bouira and 36 in Béni Slimane. These risk areas are often linked to a lack of signage or defective infrastructure. “Misplaced or missing signage can cause sudden braking and collisions,” Boubka warned.
Alongside regulatory action, the Delegation conducts four major annual awareness campaigns, including the back-to-school campaign. Aimed at students of all levels, this campaign combines educational workshops, educational games, driving simulators and virtual reality headsets allowing adolescents to “experience” an accident to better understand its consequences. The manager explained that “we want to anchor the culture of safety from childhood, because this is the generation of future drivers”. Practical guides are also distributed to different categories of drivers in order to instill good driving reflexes and road behavior.
Boubka was keen to emphasize that road safety does not depend on a single link, maintaining that “it is a collective responsibility, which concerns drivers, trainers, local authorities and the State”.