Reducing Accidents in Cities: No Budget for Implementing Plans | Israel today

On the table of the Ministry of Transportation and the Government is the "Safe City" program, which they have been working on for the past year at the National Road Safety Authority (RALBD).

They are now awaiting approval, budgeting and implementation of the plan, among other things by a regulation that will require mayors to work according to it.

The "Safe City" project is expected to operate in more than 70 cities and is based, with adaptation to Israel, on a model that has been successfully tried in other countries.

The reason why it is so important to deal with accidents within the city is the fact that 40% of the fatal accidents and 60% of the serious accidents in the last decade in Israel occurred within the city, precisely where logic is more protected with lower speeds. "

No reference from the government // Photo: Amos Ben Gershom / GPO,

Unlike accidents on intercity roads, where the majority of casualties are drivers and passengers in vehicles, on urban roads most of the casualties are vulnerable road users - pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists.

Accidents in the urban space are the result of a variety of factors, some of which are due to human errors related to the behavior of road users, some of which are caused by inadequate infrastructure and traffic arrangements, and the rest are related to vehicle characteristics.

The world's leading road safety cities, such as London, Dublin or Stockholm, have developed multi-year action plans to address systemic safety of vulnerable road users.

The program in London, for example, has led to a severe 39% drop in casualties.

Among other things, the program recommends dozens of courses of action for implementation, for the benefit of the war on road homicide: mapping road accidents, diagnosing risk centers in the city - for targeted and preventive treatment, and more.

The plans reduced road accidents in London by about 40 percent // Photo: MDA,

The model also applies to the elderly population and offers safety promotion for older pedestrians aged 75 and over - after mapping the location of older pedestrians, improving the movement of senior citizens on sidewalks by lowering curbs and extending traffic lights, and separating bicycle lanes from walking lanes.

In addition, the program offers a restriction on parking heavy vehicles within the city and instructional and teaching activities in schools.

All of these, according to the model, will be carried out alongside increased enforcement, especially in the face of offending drivers.

"Priority for vulnerable users"

Ralav CEO Snir Seidel: "The problem of urban safety is identified with the fact that urban transportation systems are designed from the point of view of the vehicle user, with little regard for the needs of pedestrians or cyclists. The model gives priority to vulnerable users in future road planning, defining urban spaces "As traffic recession areas where the speed limit is 30 km / h, the installation of infrastructure elements from traffic moderators such as slow lanes, crossing islands, traffic islands and separation between the various road users and more."

The Ministry of Transportation said that they place the war on road accidents as a top priority and are constantly working to reduce the number of casualties.

Regarding the model in question, the ministry said that "the principles of the safe city are fully and comprehensively applied in the five-year plan formulated by the Ministry of Transportation, which gives priority to users of public transport and sustainable transport, by paving bicycle and walking paths and promoting a variety of public transport, including buses, light and heavy trains and transportation systems. The masses. "