For its 3rd anniversary in Egypt, Uber Egypt, the leading ride hailing technology,  has joined forces with The Nada Foundation for the ‘Safety Around Schools Project; the first of many initiatives Uber Egypt will participate in as part of its long term commitment to safety in Egypt. From the 19-25th of November, riders will be able to choose the UberGIVING option in the Uber app and any rides requested will support NADA Foundation's incredibly important cause.

The project intends to make the roads around schools safer for student pedestrians and bus pick up and drop off. The plan also includes educating school staff and bus drivers on their role to promote safety, and supplying the schools with needed equipment to enforce all safety measures.

Uber Egypt and Nada Foundation have already commenced their three-step program to identify traffic and safety issues around relevant schools, including damaged infrastructure or inadequate sidewalk parking. The initial batch of schools are currently being identified by Nada Foundation and Uber, with the aim of supporting schools that are most in need for the "Safety Around Schools" project. 

Abdellatif Waked, General Manager of Uber Egypt, commented on the launch of the project: “At Uber, we are committed to safety and always working to build a better experience for all drivers and riders not only through our technology, but through partnerships with organizations across the country. I am excited about the initiative we have with the Nada Foundation because we share the same vision to work towards eliminating the mounting Public Health burden & crisis of injuries and fatality due to road crashes in Egypt, and I am proud it is starting with the schools and youth.  We believe riders and drivers all have a role to play when it comes to making our roads safer.”

With the constant aim to make Egyptian roads safer, Nihad Shelbaya, Co-Founder and President of Nada Foundation commented: “Since its creation, our main goal at the NADA foundation is to reduce road traffic accidents across Egypt through raising awareness and accountability of drivers, pedestrians and authorities, and through calling for the implementation of acceptable safety standards for road design, vehicles used, driving skills and legislations”.

It is estimated that 80% of serious child road accidents happen near school gates. The most at risk appear to be 12 to 15-year-old. The “School Zone” project therefore aims at carrying out effective interventions to make areas around schools in Egypt safer in a sustainable, adaptive way that considers the specificity of each area. This project includes identifying traffic and safety issues around the selected schools, planning and implementing solutions and interventions that include engineering, education, enforcement and encouragement interventions and finally evaluation and impact assessment of the project.

The road is the number one killer of Egyptian youth, with an average of 30-35 lost lives per day. Egypt has one of the highest fatality rates (42 deaths/100,000). The lost lives and the handicapping of thousands due to road crashes drains the nation of at least 2%-3% of its GDP annually.

About Uber

Uber’s mission is to bring reliable transportation to everywhere, for everyone. We started in 2010 to solve a simple problem: how do you get a ride at the touch of a button? Seven years and more than two billion trips later, we have started tackling an even greater challenge: reducing congestion and pollution in our cities by getting more people into fewer cars.

In the Middle East, Uber is already in Alexandria, Amman, Bahrain Beirut, Cairo, Casablanca, Dammam, Dubai, Doha, Jeddah, Istanbul, Karachi, Lahore, Madinah, Makkah, Manama, Mansoura, Riyadh and the Eastern Province with plans for expansion across the region. To request a ride, users must download the free application for android, iPhone, Windows Phone, Blackberry 7, or sign up at uber.com/app. For more information, please visit: https://www.uber.com/cities/

© Press Release 2017