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In an effort to keep students safe from Bei-
rut’s harsh traffic, Kunhadi, in collaboration
with Roadster Diner, established a pedes-
trian crossing in front of IC’s bus gate. The
passage was aptly called the “Talal Kassem
crossing”, in honor of the 17-year-old IC
student who was run over by a speeding car
last year as he walked to school.
Media, administrators, students, and Talal
Kassem’s family congregated in front of
the IC’s bus gate on January 19th for the
official inauguration of the crossing.
“We are pleased to announce that
Kunhadi will be launching, in the year
2012, a pedestrian awareness program
by creating safe crossings in front of
schools and throughout the country,” said
Kunhadi’s founder, Fadi Gebrane, whose
18-year-old son, Hadi, was killed in a
car accident in 2006. It is in his memory
that the Gebrane family established the
Kunhadi NGO to promote safer driving
in Lebanon and focus on responsibility
and awareness.
According to Kunhadi, there were 10,000
car crashes in 2010 alone, with more
than 500 fatalities and 8,000 injuries.The
leading cause of crashes are young adults
between the ages of 15-29 and 85% of
accidents are the result of reckless driv-
ing, followed by speeding, drunk driving,
fatigue, and the use of mobile phones.
“We don’t want more victims, we want
safer roads. We don’t want deadly roads
but ones that allow us to live,” said Zeina
Kassem, the mother of Talal, whose death
sent shock waves throughout the IC
community last year. Since then, Kassem
has been lobbying for stricter regulations
and the enforcement of traffic violations,
as current traffic laws in Lebanon are
outdated and lag behind other countries.
In the wake of Talal’s death, outraged IC
students gathered at the Serail in Parlia-
ment Square last year to urge Parliament
Speaker Nabih Berri to pass a new traffic
law. A petition, signed by hundreds, was
also submitted.
For a short time after Talal’s death, police
could be seen stopping traffic violators in
many areas. But it was short lived. Police-
men eventually disappeared, radars went
unattended, and traffic went back to its
chaotic norm.
Still, Kassem and Kunhadi preserve with
their awareness campaigns.
The new pedestrian crossing at IC is
part of the Kunhadi’s ‘Decade of Action
for Road Safety 2011-2020’, an initiative
aimed at halting and reversing the con-
tinuous growth of global traffic injuries
and fatalities.
“We hope that, with time, every single
school in Lebanon will be able to have
such a safety zone at its doors, greatly
reducing any harm that can be done to
children as they come and go to the place
where they build their futures,” declared
Samer Chehlaoui, the CEO of Roadster’s
Diner, which financed the project.
For its part, IC has already placed cross-
ing guards at the elementary school build-
ing in Raouche during drop-off times.
“It’s not important to create new laws
but to enforce the laws we already have,”
said Riad Chirazi, Head of Activities at
IC. “All schools should teach kids how to
respect laws. Very few people know even
what they are.”
Pedestrian Crossing at IC
The Talal Kassem crossing.
14
SPRING
2012