With the number of road deaths reaching 300 people as of this week, a 19 percent increase over the same period in 2020, the National Road Safety Authority publishes, as every year, the book on road safety trends.
The book published in the annual safety week reflects the trends years back, including a reference that was characterized by closures due to the corona and limitations that led to a decrease in travel.
The book is actually a study that gives decision makers a correct and in-depth picture of policy stabilization.
The bottom line from the RALBAD report is that Israel, a crowded country laden with vehicles, is not in good shape.
It is not among the ten safest countries and requires a lot of work.
A report reviewing trends among risk groups, tiny tool users, corona effects, and international comparisons present several conclusions, one of the most notable of which is that the risk of a person from Arab society being killed in an accident was approximately twice as high as in Jewish society.
In 2020, 305 people were killed in road accidents in Israel, 2,059 were seriously injured, and 59,452 were lightly injured.
The number of fatalities was 9% lower and the number of seriously injured was 10% lower than the average for the years 2018–2019.
However, the estimated decrease in total travel (14%) was greater than the decrease in the number of seriously injured and killed.
The decline in the number of dead and injured was severe mainly among pedestrians (24%), private car drivers and passengers (11%) and bus passengers (53%).
In 2020, the upward trend in injuries to motorcyclists continued, archive, photo: MDA operational documentation
In contrast, in 2020, the upward trend in injuries to motorcyclists (7%) and minors (20%) continued.
Between 2015 and 2019, there was a sharp increase in injuries to electric bicycle riders and electric scooters, with the increase in the use of these vehicles in Israel.
In contrast, in 2020 the number of casualties in these vehicles remained similar to the previous year, and the increase in injuries was actually among regular cyclists, mainly children and teenagers.
One in 150 Israelis was killed or injured in an accident in 2020
The main data emerging from the report present a bleak picture. One in 150 Israelis was killed or injured in a car accident during 2020. Israel is in 12th place, out of 29 countries, among the fatalities per 100,000 people. In fatalities per 10,000 vehicles, Israel In 21st place. In casualties per billion kilometers, Israel is ranked 16th.
As mentioned, relative to their share of the population, Arab male drivers were more involved in accidents compared to Jewish male drivers in all age groups, but the difference was particularly pronounced in the younger age groups.
There are significant differences between the Jewish society and the Arab society in the risk of being injured in an accident: in the last eight years, the risk of a person from Arab society being killed in an accident was approximately twice as high as in Jewish society, and the risk of being seriously injured was approximately 1.5 times.
Road accident following a shooting incident, archive, Photo: Coco
It was also noted that young drivers are 1.7 times more involved in accidents and men 3.7 times more than women.
There has been a sharp and severe increase in fatalities among riders in the last five years in electric vehicles including bicycles and scooters - 436 killers in five years.
A comparison between Israel and the OECD countries shows that the main potential for improving safety in Israel lies in improving the safety of vulnerable road users: the biggest difference between Israel and the OECD average and the leading countries in safety is in the death rates of pedestrians and motorcyclists.
In 2020, the Ministry of Transportation and the RLBD submitted for approval to the government the National Plan 5030, which aims to reduce the number of fatalities and serious injuries in road accidents by 50% by 2030. The plan has not yet been approved.
Snir Seidel, CEO of the Ralba, commented on the report and said that "the book is a research document that reflects a national situation on the issue of carnage on the roads and assists policy makers in policy formulation. "Vulnerable road users. The difference between us and the average in the countries is in the rate of deaths among pedestrians and motorcyclists. Promoting activities in these areas could lead to a significant improvement in the situation in Israel."
Transportation during the Corona
At the same time, the RALBAD book also noted that the Corona plague crisis led to a significant decrease in total travel in 2020, which is estimated at 14% less compared to the average for 2018-2019. This, as mentioned, the decrease in travel did not prevent an increase among motorcyclists and minors, where the trend of increasing the number of dead and injured continued hard this year as well.
Checkpoint in one of the previous closures (archive), Photo: Photo: Oren Ben Hakon
During the months of closures and severe restrictions on the economy in 2020, there was a severe decrease in the number of dead and injured, but the decrease in travel was greater.
The first and second closures were on the dates: 15.3.2020 - 30.4.2020 and 22.10.2020- - 17.11.2020, so these months were characterized by the highest deaths and severely injured during the year, and were high.
Part of the information is that the corona plague has led to widespread cuts in public transport services.
Means closure or no more vehicles were traveling.
At the same time, there was an increase in deaths and injuries in the urban area.
Age as a risk factor
It was also found that age has a large effect on the risk of being injured in an accident: young people aged 15–24 and senior citizens aged 65 and over are injured in road accidents at a much higher rate than their share of the population, while children up to 14 are less injured than their share of the population.
In addition, it was noted that young male drivers were involved in a much higher number of accidents compared to older men than them, but among women there was no significant difference between young and older men.
It was also noted that Israel has some unique characteristics in the field of transportation, compared to most OECD countries: its population grew at a rapid rate, about 1.8% per year in the period 2015–2019, and overall travel grew at an even faster rate - about 4.2%.
Israel is a small and crowded country and its roads are among the busiest in the OECD, despite a per capita motoring rate that is among the lowest in the OECD.
Examining the involvement of heavy vehicles in road accidents, for example, it was found that in relation to 10,000 buses, the rate of fatalities in accidents involving buses in Israel is significantly higher than in the OECD median.
Another interesting statistic is that at least 2.4 of the drivers involved in serious and serious accidents drove without a license.
These are centuries over six years.
In addition during these years 304 motorcyclists who were involved in serious accidents, drove without a license.
Most of them are 15 to 24 years old.
