Algeria Unveils Overhauled Traffic Code with 190 Articles and Harsh Penalties to Combat Road Fatalities
✍️ BY: Dr. Hana Saada
Algiers – December 2025 – Algeria has introduced a sweeping overhaul of its national traffic legislation, submitting a comprehensive bill of 190 articles to the People’s National Assembly (APN), in a move widely described as urgent and unprecedented. Ordered by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, the revised traffic code is designed to address what officials call a “national emergency”: the relentless rise in road accidents that claim thousands of lives annually and result in substantial material losses.
According to the explanatory memorandum attached to the bill, the legislation seeks to establish clear rules for the organization, safety and policing of road circulation, aiming at a structural, sustainable transformation of road mobility.
At the core of the proposed reform is a reinforced strategy for road safety, with a focus on modernizing data collection systems and analytical tools to improve driver behaviour over the long term. The bill defines a set of foundational concepts, regulates the use of public roads, and determines the modalities of traffic control while promoting a balanced, qualitative development of transport across all regions of the country.
Stronger Role for Local Authorities in Managing Mobility
Given the central role of local entities in organizing road traffic, the legislation mandates that municipal authorities prepare and implement circulation plans to manage vehicle flows and mitigate their negative impacts. The bill also sets out specific provisions governing vehicle drivers, pedestrians, and multiple transport sectors—from public passenger transport and taxis to school transport, freight vehicles, and hazardous materials logistics—along with rules concerning roadways, stopping, parking, overtaking and traffic priority.
On accident prevention, the bill delineates the responsibilities of all stakeholders. The State is charged with formulating and promoting a national road safety strategy, while local authorities must design and operationalize their own localized strategies, tailored to regional risks and contexts. Civil society, the private sector and media organizations are formally integrated into both national and local strategic frameworks.
A National Council to Oversee Road Safety Strategy
The institutional architecture of road safety is also reshaped. The bill establishes a National Council for Road Prevention and Safety, tasked with defining national strategies, evaluating all related actions and issuing binding directives to all actors involved. It also preserves the National Delegation for Road Safety, responsible for drafting strategic proposals.
To confront accidents at the most immediate level, the bill introduces local monitoring and intervention units within each municipality. Answerable to the Mayor, these cells will identify “black spots,” take urgent measures to eliminate danger, and notify competent authorities when higher-level intervention is required. The legislation also declares a yearly National Road Safety Day, coinciding with the date of the law’s publication in the Official Gazette.
Regarding driving licences, the bill stipulates a two-year probationary period for new licence holders and sets technical standards to ensure vehicles are compliant with safety, security and environmental requirements.
Infractions Classified into Four Offence Tiers
A major feature of the reform is the reclassification of traffic violations into infractions, misdemeanors and felonies, based on gravity. Infractions are divided into four categories, each subject to severe financial penalties.
More serious offences—qualifying as misdemeanors or felonies—may incur penalties of up to 20 years’ criminal imprisonment and fines of up to 2,000,000 DA, with harsher sentences in cases of involuntary homicide or injury involving heavy vehicles, public passenger transport, school buses, taxis, freight carriers or hazardous materials transport. The bill also criminalizes new acts, including endangering the life or physical integrity of others.
In a preventive measure, the law introduces stricter regulations regarding the consumption of narcotics and psychotropic substances. Applicants for driving licences—or renewals—must undergo medical testing proving non-consumption, with licensed drivers subject to periodic mandatory checks and potential random examinations.
Employment files for heavy vehicle drivers, taxi drivers, school transport operators and freight and hazardous materials handlers must include proof of negative drug tests.
The legislation also addresses licence suspension and cancellation, recurrence, vehicle seizure and complementary penalties, including mandatory medical examinations to assess whether a driver retains the physical and mental competencies required for driving.
With its heavy penalties, layered institutional architecture and emphasis on prevention, Algeria’s new traffic code represents a forceful attempt to reverse the country’s alarming road safety record. Authorities frame the initiative not as administrative reform, but as an urgent national defence strategy to protect life, public order and economic stability.
— END —
📡🌍 | About Dzair Tube Media Group | 🌍📡
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📰 Dzair Tube is a trailblazer in Algerian digital journalism, delivering high-quality content in Arabic, French, and English. With more than 📈 500,000 daily clicks, it ranks among the most influential media platforms in the country.
🏆 Awarded the President of the Republic’s Prize for Professional Journalist in the Electronic Press category (🗓 October 22, 2022), Dzair Tube is widely recognized for its editorial excellence and integrity.
📱 Massive Digital Reach:
🔴 350,000+ YouTube subscribers
🔵 6 million+ followers across Facebook pages
📸 70,000+ Instagram followers
🎥 Operating from state-of-the-art studios, Dzair Tube broadcasts rich and diverse programming, including:
🗞 News | ⚽ Sports | 🎭 Entertainment | 🕌 Religion | 🎨 Culture
🗣️ Featuring interactive talk shows and exclusive interviews with prominent figures from politics, business, arts, and more, Dzair Tube serves as a key platform for public discourse and civic engagement.
📰 Its print sports daily, “Dzair Sport,” enjoys over 50,000 daily downloads via the official website—further cementing the platform’s multimedia leadership.
🎖️ Honored with the Media Leadership Award by the former Minister of Communication, Mohamed Laâgab, and celebrated at the Hilals of the Television awards, Dzair Tube continues to lead with innovation, influence, and impact.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🌐 Stay Connected:
🔗 Website: www.dzair-tube.dz
🔗 English: www.dzair-tube.dz/en
📲 Follow us on Facebook | Instagram | YouTube
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
