Morocco Savvy

Nine people have been killed near Khénifra as the bus they were traveling in fell into a ravine.

According to the Moroccan press agency MAP, 36 others were injured, six of them seriously. 

The accident happened Saturday morning around 11.30 on the road between Agelmous and Khénifra, some 195 kilometers (120 miles) southeast of Casablanca.

MAP reports that an initial investigation suggests that a mechanical problem caused the bus to veer off the bending mountainous road and plunge into a ravine.

The region is little visited by foreign tourists.

Eight out of ten deaths in car accidents happen on the same 180 kilometers of roads - here’s where to be extra vigilant.

There’s around 35,000 kilometers (22,000 miles) of road in Morocco, and yet 80 percent of all fatal car accidents happen on the same 180 kilometers (110 miles) in the network.

Moroccan weekly La Vie Éco has mapped these dangerous stretches and has come up with a list of the 15 “most lethal roads”. Most of these accident “black spots” are located on intersections in the north of the country.

According to La Vie Éco, the layout of intersections is as much a cause of accidents as speeding, reckless driving and the poor mechanical state of a lot of cars in Morocco.

For its part, the magazine says, the government is spending more than US$ 15 million to improve the traffic situation at the listed locations.

If you want to see the maps of these “black spots”, check the article over at La Vie Éco’s website.

The most dangerous stretches of road on the “tourist trail” are:

Traveling between Casablanca and Marrakech

• intersection of the RN9 and provincial road 3011 (near Sidi Maarouf), at kilometer point 2.1

Traveling between Marrakech and Essaouira/Agadir

• RN8 between Marrakech and Chichaoua (between km 182.3 and km 183.3)
• intersection of the RN6 and provincial road 5013 (km 185.1) 
• intersection of the RN4 and the RN6 near Chicaoua (km 187.8)
• RN8 north of Ameskroud between km 30.8 and 54.8  

Traveling between Casablanca and Essaouira

• intersection of the RN1 and regional road 204 at Bouguedra (near Safi), at km 518
• the southern exit from Safi on regional road 301 (the coastal road to Essaouira) at km 177

The other “black spots” have not been listed here, because they are not on the tourist trail. Again, La Vie Éco lists all of them on their website.

A big thank you to the people at La Vie Éco’s website who responded very quickly to my request to put these maps online.

Gas stations in and around Laayoune have run out of fuel - authorities are blaming bad weather, locals point the finger at thieves.

Whatever the cause, there has been no fuel available at gas stations in Laayoune in the last few days, Moroccan daily Libération writes.

The official version is that “adverse weather conditions” have been blocking the port of Laayoune for ships carrying gasoline. Local sources tell the newspaper that the heavily state-subsidized fuel is being stolen and sold on for a profit by smugglers.

Libération points to the recent arrests of several smugglers who were trafficking cigarettes, fuel and food between Algeria and Morocco. The paper seems to imply that the Polisario front, which campaigns for an independent Western Sahara, is somehow involved, and could possibly be profiting from the smuggling activities.

Morocco’s insurance companies have issued a list of the four most popular methods for car thieves - essential reading.

There are no statistics available for car theft in Morocco, let alone for the number of tourists whose cars are stolen. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the risk is very small.

Still, if you want to know what to look out for, today’s L’Economiste newspaper describes the four most common schemes used by car thieves.

The list was made public by the insurance companies in Morocco. Here’s their advice:

• never get out of your car without taking the keys and locking all doors
• when thieves threaten to use violence, let them have the car
• call the police even if the thieves abandon your car, they may have left drugs or stolen property inside that could get you into trouble later
• make copies of all your car documents and leave them at your hotel, along with the spare keys, as you will need them when you report a car theft

And here are the latest creative ways to steal a car in Morocco.

The Rear Window
You get in your car and you’re ready to go. Like any good driver, you look over your shoulders before you leave. That’s when you spot the large piece of paper or cardboard on your rear window.

Your first impulse is to get out of your car to remove the paper. It will take just a second, so you leave the car keys in the ignition, your bag inside and the door open.

When you are behind the car, the thief moves in, getting behind the wheel and taking off with your car.

The Fake Accident
As you drive along the road, one moped drives in front of you, another one behind you. Both have two people on them. Suddenly, the one in front breaks and slides. As you hit the breaks too, the passenger on the back seat of the moped disappears under your bumper.

Horrified, you realize you may have hit him. You dash out of the car to see if he’s alright. By the time you reach him, he’s already up again, back on the moped and off to nowhere.

The passenger from the moped behind you, meanwhile, has run over to your car. He finds the door open, the key in the ignition, your valuables still inside. And off he goes. 

The Invisibility Cloak
You return to your car, only to find that it’s gone. It’s nowhere to be seen. After a few minutes you resign to the bad news and head for the police station.

Having spent hours to file the police report, you return to your hotel room and phone the insurance company back home.

Meanwhile, back in the street where you last saw your car, thieves are thanking you for allowing them all the time in the world to take your car away. While you are sweating in a police station, they remove the car cover they had draped over your vehicle and get ready to move.

The Tow Truck
Not necessarily a trick that is used on tourists, because the thieves need to know how long a car will stay on the street unattended. It is used mostly outside offices.

The thieves arrive wit a tow truck and casually load a car on it. The scene doesn’t cause any attention. How unusual is it to see a car being towed away?

According to L’Economiste, the tow truck scheme is very popular with Toyota Corollas, and it has only been reported in Rabat so far.

Apparently, most cars in Morocco are stolen as a source of spare parts.

• More tips for driving around Morocco

Eager to show that it’s taking road safety serious, the ministry of Transport publishes the results of two weeks’ worth of road controls.

During a campaign of intense road controls between January 8 and 21, police handed out 21,511 fines, revoked 4,981 driver’s licenses and impounded 4,952 vehicles.

• Somehow, that makes sense

Good news for car drivers in Morocco. Almost 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles) of road have been cleared of snow.

Exceptionally heavy snowfalls since last Friday made some roads pretty hard to navigate, particularly in the Atlas and Rif mountains. Although no roads were completely closed, traffic slowed to a crawl along many stretches.

The ministry of Transport announced today that snow crews had cleared most of the roads by this morning. With rising temperatures, most snow should disappear over the next few days.

• Nevertheless, be careful on the road