The Madinaty Accident – How Underage Driving Destroyed Families and Doomed Lives.

On the 2nd of June past curfew, Shaimaa Nour Eldin and her friend were taking a walk in the B7 area in Madinaty to buy something from a nearby supermarket, only for a car driven by underage boys with no driving licenses to crash with the two girls, resulting in the death of Shaimaa and severe injuries to her friend.

After this terrible incident, all the boys fled with the speed of light, but luckily the residents living in the area witnessed everything that happened. Police investigations were carried out right after the incident, thus it turned out the car belonged to a 15-year-old boy who admitted that he was responsible for the occurrence of the accident among the 8 boys who were present therein. As well as not having a license, the boy was also found guilty of wrong-way driving and exceeding the speed limit.

Afterwards, the illegal conditions in which the boys were driving were already confirmed in addition to suspicions that they might have been under the influence of drugs while driving due to finding a “roll” that might contain drugs. Upon discovering that, the 15-year-old teenage boy was sent to the forensic medicine department to take a drug test. Following these investigations and decisions, the boy didn’t face any consequences or punishment and was released from the police station effortlessly. Meanwhile, Shaimaa’s family were already finishing the burial procedures, which were hindered and caused great exhaustion to them. Most significantly, learning about the smooth release of the 15-year-old added insult to the injury, and wasn't easy for the grieving family to watch.

However, after the burial procedures, it was declared that the 15-year-old and his father were imposed detention on remand for 4 days starting from the 4th of June, for the father knew about his underage son taking his car for leisure and let him nonetheless, therefore being responsible for the accident as well. Shaimaa’s family thanked the public prosecutor for announcing the statement of the police custody and were grateful that actions were taken to bring justice to their deceased daughter. Thereafter, nothing was heard about a reached verdict or more updates.

As you all can see, most people forgot about it too soon, ignoring what caused the accident and moving on with their lives like this was nothing but a one-time thing. This was a message to all reckless teenagers who go out for “Late Night Drives”, who still didn't get their licenses, yet neglect speed limits and traffic laws only to be the coolest member of the clique. It’s a message to parents who think they’re chill by not watching what their kids do close enough and who don’t realize how far things can go. This didn’t happen in the busy streets of Cairo, or a speedy highway, it happened in the tranquil streets of a residential compound, and the ones responsible were no older than 17 years old. It ended in radically altering the life of a young woman and ending the life of the other, along with their families whose hearts ache for their lost, loved ones because of how irresponsible some teenagers can be, and parents who turn a blind eye to what their kids do.

All of our prayers go to both families and the two young women. May your soul rest in Peace, Shaimaa.