A car that gets stuck in the Ayalon lanes causes a disruption in traffic for more than two hours, almost like a car accident (Photo: Reuven Castro)
When we talk about traffic jams, we mainly talk about infrastructure and public transportation problems.
But how much of the traffic congestion is caused by old and poorly maintained cars that get stuck on the road and block a lane?
The Automobile Importers Association claims in a new study that 20% of traffic jams are caused by traffic accidents, vehicles getting stuck on the road and road works.
According to an analysis conducted by the Union of Ayalon Routes data, regarding cars that got stuck on the 45 kilometers of the road in 2021, it appears that in the past year the most common events that caused traffic disruption were a stuck car (2,045), traffic accidents (601) and an abandoned car (335).
The time of impact on traffic for a stuck vehicle is also relatively long: 2.14 hours on average, compared to 2.35 hours for road works and 2.38 for a traffic accident.
In an analysis of approximately 1,500 incidents involving a vehicle stuck on Route 20 last year for which there is information regarding the vehicle's year of manufacture, it appears that the chance of a vehicle 9 years old or older to get stuck on the road is twice as great as that of a vehicle up to three years old.
So where does the figure of 6 times the chance of getting stuck come from?
This was arrived at by the Automobile Importers Association by calculating the number of explosions in relation to the vehicle's travel time: vehicles up to 9 years old travel 2.91 times more kilometers than vehicles nine years old and older.
Cars getting stuck in Ayalon lanes last year before the year of production (Photo: Automobile Importers Association)
The Automobile Importers Association is not without interests in the matter: the association, whose members make a living mainly from selling new cars (and to a lesser extent from selling used cars and parts), is promoting a new scrapping program, which will encourage Israelis to replace their used car with a newer one, preferably a brand new one.
In the past, the Ministry of Environmental Protection operated a government scrapping program that focused on cars that were 20 years old, and in some cases 15 years old, in which the state paid NIS 3,000 to every car owner who sold it to them to get it off the road.
Now the Automobile Importers Association is promoting a program that will focus on cars 9-14 years old, on the grounds that older cars are driven a little anyway and are naturally removed from the market.
The program, which the car importers propose to finance 330 of the 800 million shekels it will cost, will give the owner of a nine-year-old car 11.5 thousand shekels and the amount will decrease the older the car that is delivered is.
The importers propose that the state finance NIS 320 million of the cost from the tax money that will be collected from the new cars purchased by old car owners who decide to add an amount of money for a significant upgrade of their vehicle, and the rest will come from an amount of NIS 750-1,500 that will be paid for each vehicle that will be taken off the road by the program's franchisee, who will be able to sell the car parts .
Unlike the government program where the money goes into the driver's bank account and the purchase of another vehicle is not encouraged, the car importers offer a program that will encourage the purchase of a newer, safer, more reliable and less polluting vehicle.
The owner of the old car will receive the money as a coupon which he will use as part of the payment for the purchase of a new or used car.
Hazi Shaiv, CEO of the Automobile Importers Association, told Walla that "the implementation of a multi-year and effective plan that is properly structured, to scrap polluting and unsafe vehicles, is the reality these days.
Such a program will save lives, reduce the damage caused by accidents, reduce road congestion and air pollution, and at the same time increase the state's revenues."
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