Last month the son of good friends of mine was killed, hit by a car as he crossed the street on the way to school – his life cut short at just 17 years of age. The same week he was killed I heard that at least another half dozen others were also killed in vehicle accidents. As a conservative estimate, almost 7,000 people have lost their lives on Lebanon’s roads since 2000, and thousands more injured. Were the roads kept up properly, and even the most basic safety rules enforced by the authorities and adhered to by drivers, the vast majority of these individual tragedies could have been avoided. The human cost of this carnage is incalculable. Where we can begin to quantify the loss, however, is in strain on the medical and insurance sectors, and the loss of economic productivity. Antiquated cars speeding down badly paved roads is
