"The information in Arabic is not complete, for all the data please switch to Hebrew", this is the line you come across when looking for information on traffic accident prevention, enforcement, traffic education or advocacy, on the website of the National Road Safety Authority.
The National Authority is the official authority, but the Authority - which is the largest governmental body and the trust for information - unfortunately does not make all information and data accessible to the Arabic language in a proper and complete manner.
The Arab public cannot know what the situation is, and this may be where a problem of decades begins.
The driving culture in the sector is at a low point, and the traffic accident graph in the sector is only rising.
This is not new.
We suffer from decades of neglect, lack of enforcement and lack of care, which have caused a poor driving culture to take root, violent and wild driving, especially when the driver knows that the chance of being caught or encountering a police car in an Arab settlement tends to zero.
The results of wild driving in Dimona.
Photo: Dodo Greenspan,
Unprecedented data
The figures revealed this week in "Israel Hayom" are unprecedented: a confidential police report states that Arabs make up 19% of all drivers in the country, but more than 40% of road accident fatalities are Arabs. Although infrastructure is a significant factor in accidents, approximately 60% of the fatalities The Arabs in accidents are killed in accidents that happen outside the villages. In other words, the matter is also educational - the culture of driving is something that must be cultivated.
Those who live in Arab society and know the grim reality, know that the infrastructure is a significant cause of accidents, but certainly not the main one.
If we had seen more enforcement vehicles on the roads, the situation would probably have been different.
A police car in Umm al-Fahm, photo: Michel dot Kom
Lack of 900 police officers
According to the data, the traffic police lack about 450 vehicles, which means that the traffic police lack at least 900 traffic policemen.
There is no doubt that most of them are supposed to be in Arab communities, not to give reports and increase the state's income, but to discourage and instill a new driving culture; to catch young drivers who get on the car without passing a theory, without having a legal driver's license. There are young people who get on the vehicle and may harm their lives and the lives of others.
Even when the traffic police goes on an enforcement operation in Arab settlements, it encounters enforcement problems: the lack of bylaws and road signs in the area.
The chances of an Arab citizen meeting a traffic car are one in three days on average, and that says it all.
Lack of 900 police officers.
A police officer in Ashkelon.
Photo: Liron Moldovan,
Is the chance of getting caught low?
Another element that emerged from the report is the vehicle's condition. Arab society knows that the chance of getting caught is low, and the likelihood that the policeman will chase you and have the courage to take the law with you is also low. That is why citizens do not repair the car at a licensed garage, and do not pay attention to timely maintenance. The traffic jams along the fence indicate their preference for the standard in PA territories.
There is also no one there who checks or is interested in the traffic accidents.
Were we wrong?
We will fix it!
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