Dying of the light: Lebanon's crisis and failing traffic signals

Mona Fawaz remembers when traffic lights were first installed in Beirut several years after the civil war ended.

It was the late 1990s. The gutted downtown area of Lebanon's capital, a front line throughout the brutal 15-year conflict, was being rebuilt in grand fashion. Prosperity - or at least a sense of normality - felt within reach. Everyone wanted to move forward.

But the chaos of the war remained ingrained in the way people drove.

Traffic was horrendous, a fast-paced free-for-all on the freeways that turned to gridlock in narrow city streets and a mess of clamouring metal at intersections. 

It was overwhelming for 26-year-old Fawaz, back in Beirut on a break from studying in the United States where she had become accustomed to the simple guidance of green, red and amber.

When the lights first came up, many Lebanese were slow to adjust. Fawaz "felt like an activist" when she stopped at red, and would intentionally block the path of impatient motorists who tried to manoeuvre through.

By Al- Helalee