Miri Regev Minister of Transportation at the scene of a traffic accident/documentation on social networks according to Section 27 A of the Copyright Law, photographs of surfers
Last March was a difficult month on the roads, with 43 deaths, more than twice the number of IDF soldiers killed in the war during that period. Since the beginning of 2024, 102 pedestrians, drivers and passengers have been killed, a 12% jump compared to the same period last year.
But the Minister of Transportation and Road Safety Today, Miri Regev avoided coming to the discussion of the Economic Committee for the Promotion of Road Safety, in the Sub-Committee for Road Safety chaired by MK Boaz Toporovsky (Yesh Atid). The director general of the Ministry of Transportation Moshe Ben Zaken also avoided coming to the discussion, as did the chairman of the National Road Safety Authority, retired chief Yoram Halevi. The Regev office claimed that the minister's office had been informed in advance that its position would be brought by the Acting Director General of Harlbud Yaakov Zakaria, the Director of the Education and Outreach Division Nechama Laor Drori and the head of the Policy Planning Division. All of these were present at the discussion as agreed.
The committee convened for a discussion following Walla Car's revelation that Regev did not prevent a sharp cut of about 40% in the high school traffic education budget, a last chance in the education system to teach boys and girls about the dangers on the road and ways to avoid them, at the end of which the high school students take a theory exam.
"I want to hear what you are doing so that there are no deaths in April. I will ask everyone this question, because it is a disgrace. You do not care about what is happening, you are disconnected. People are dying and you think it has nothing to do with you. The responsibility and the blame is on you. Convince me And the citizens of Israel, what are you doing to save the lives of the citizens of Israel? There will be a commission of inquiry and
people
will be in prison, what are you doing in the face of this terrible quarter," raged Chairman Toporovsky.
The Ministry of Transportation in Dion, head of the infrastructure division Raic Salem, replied: "I can't answer everything, there is the National Road Safety Authority (RLBAD) and there are other bodies." MK Toporovski responded: "Until now I've been nice, what are you doing? Who is the senior member of Harlev? What are you doing to save lives? What did you do last summer that didn't work and what are you doing in practice? What the hell are you doing? What are you doing in April besides putting out a tender in Yosh for billboards?". The acting CEO of Harlev 4. Ya'akov Zakaria tried to answer: "Harvald promotes plans in the field, operates in the cluster of Gulf cities and the plan is in advanced stages."
MK Boaz Toporovski in the debate. "People are dying and you don't think it has anything to do with you"
MK Boaz Toporovski attacks the government's failures in the fight against traffic accidents/Noam Moshkowitz, spokeswoman for the Knesset
The representative of the Ministry of Education, Max Aviram, revealed the meaning of the cut in the traffic education budget: "From our point of view, the meaning of the cut is that at the beginning of the next school year we are not opening traffic education." And so tens of thousands of high school students will take the theory exams on their own, after several studies, instead of a year of lessons at school.
Haralbad CEO Mm Zakaria said that "in previous years we allowed ourselves not to harm traffic education, despite the cuts. But the latest cut that brings us to such a low threshold of a current budget has led us to the decision to cut that too. I feel that we are doing the best with what comes to us."
The discussion also revealed the order of priorities of the police, which, due to a lack of budgeting for the traffic department, resulted in the fact that each shift there are only 60 vehicles of the traffic department on the intercity roads. This is after almost 20 years ago, the government approved the The Sheinin Committee's recommendations to increase the number of mobility vehicles, which was then doubled, 120, to 450.
The result: the police are unable, due to the limitations of manpower and mobility, to deal with serious road criminals
. In response to the committee chairman's question. "Then there is no enforcement," said MK Toporovski in response. "The government is de facto announcing the end of the fight against road accidents and raising hands. That's what I understand. It's a miracle that there are only a hundred deaths since the beginning of the year. There's no point in diving into the data."
Toporovsky added that for the second year in a row, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been violating the Harald Law, according to which he must submit a report on the government's activities for road safety at the end of each March.
The CEO of the Or Yerok association, attorney Yaniv Ya'akov, noted at the hearing that " This is the worst first quarter in the last 15 years, despite hundreds of thousands of evacuees and closed roads, we are on our way to 400 deaths a year, a number we were at in 2008. We are deteriorating. The cuts in the LLB means unnecessary death. Maybe they should bring the families of the dead and those who are cutting should stand up to them."
The representative of the Ministry of Transportation Salem commented that "what can be done immediately is enforcement, and education is long-term. We invest a lot of money in safety infrastructure and the treasury did not cut us any of it." Zakaria added: "Berlbad has professional maturity with programs that some of them are happening on the ground and some of them can happen when budgets are received. The drop to 70 million shekels and today to 63 million shekels is a red line far beyond what the Haralbad can do. If they can give us back the last cut, which will allow us to return a budget to the Ministry of Education and the authorities, we can do more."
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Miri Regev