The Ministry of Transportation and Road Safety, and its head, Minister Miri Regev, are responsible for the National Road Safety Authority (Haralbad), an authority that was re-established with great fanfare in 2006 during the time of the then Minister, Shaul Mofaz. In 2009, Minister Israel Katz took over, serving for a decade Israel Katz was replaced for a short period by Bezalel Smotrich and Miri Regev was the Minister of Transportation (on hiatus during the unity government) for almost three years.
The horrible failure taking place on Israel's roads
The Minister and the Haralbad, who are responsible for road safety, are responsible for the serious negligence that occurs on Israel's roads - 413 deaths in the year that began on October 7, 2023 until October 6, 2024.
This number continues to rise, and in the 365 days that passed until October 19 (the date of writing these lines), 427 people were killed.
The Sheinin Committee, established about twenty years ago, set clear goals that were adopted by the government:
By 2015, the number of deaths must be reduced below the threshold of 300 per year, and this number must continue to decrease each year.
In practice, the sad picture is that the number of dead never reached the target and it only increases year by year:
1. In 2020, the year of the Corona virus and the closures, the lowest number was recorded - 305
2. 2021 - 364
3. 2022 - 351
4. 2023 - 361
We experience the negative and unnecessary peak in 2024 - so far 351 deaths and an annual rate of 440 - 430 deaths.
"Achievements" by Minister of Transportation Miri Regev
The minister in charge, Miri Regev, has been busy, as is known, in recent months producing ceremonies to commemorate the terrible failure and the ongoing war that is the responsibility of the government of which she is a member. Miri Regev has a deep acquaintance with the Ministry of Transport, as this is her second term in the ministry. Her first term lasted from May 17, 2020 to June 13, 2021, and the second term began on December 22, 2022 and continues to this day. During her terms, 1,050 people were killed on the roads.
The Swedish "vision of zero deaths".
In the Western world, about twenty years ago, the adoption of the Swedish "Zero Vision" regarding road accidents began. The vision, as it is called, aims to reach a state of zero fatalities in traffic accidents.
Is it possible?
Most of the countries that have adopted this vision have reduced the number of deaths by 30% to 40% in recent decades. That is, if the Israeli government had tried to meet the goal it set for itself in 2015, there might have been a shortage of 350 to 400 dead just in Minister Regev's terms.
Since the year 2020 and until this writing, over 1700 people have been killed on the roads, a 35% reduction in the number of deaths, 600 fewer deaths. 600 families whose lives were not destroyed and another large number of seriously injured, crippled for life for all that entails, for them and their families.
Is there blindness on the part of the decision makers here as well?
Did no one "pull the wing of the prime minister's coat"?
The answer is clear and unequivocal - the decision makers and those in charge are aware of the situation.
The state auditor for the failure in the war on traffic accidents
State Comptroller Mateniho Engelman published last June an audit report on the fight against road accidents. According to the report, Israeli governments have not been able to reduce the number of dead and injured in the last decade.
"Israeli roads are a ticking time bomb," noted critic Engelman. "Over the years, Israeli governments have failed in the fight against road accidents: the rate of road accidents in Israel has increased in the last decade while in leading European countries it is small, the budgets of the RLB have been cut, many standards in the traffic police are not staffed and the government is not meeting its goals in this area," he added.
The State Comptroller made a comparison (as of the end of 2022 and 2023 in some of the data) between the situation in Israel and the situation in the OECD countries, and this comparison shows that in terms of the change in the number of deaths since 2012, Israel is ranked first to last among the countries of the European Union.
In a comparison of the change that occurred in the number of serious injuries in the years 2012 - 2022, Israel is ranked first to last among 30 countries. In Israel, the number of seriously injured people increased by about 21%, while in most countries there was a decrease in this index.
Two additional issues arising from the State Comptroller's report point to the state's negligence in handling this important issue:
A. The committee of CEOs to deal with traffic accidents - Since 2016, the inter-ministerial committee of the CEOs of the government ministries, which was established for the purpose of "urgent and comprehensive treatment of curbing carnage on the roads", has met only once, in December 2016, despite the importance of coordination and making joint decisions, even though no real improvement has been achieved in the figures of victims in road accidents.
on. Reports to the Knesset according to the Haralbad Law - It emerged that since 2005, the Ministers of Transportation have not forwarded to the government and the Knesset's Economic Committee a report on the implementation of the annual plan by the Haralbad, as required by law, and that the Prime Minister does not report this to the Knesset.
The data indicates that this is a war that has been neglected
All the data points to this being a neglected war. A war that goes beyond bereavement, pain, sorrow and destruction also has an economic side that hurts us all:
In a "normal" year of about 350 deaths, the economic damage to the country from traffic accidents is estimated at NIS 16 billion. An increase of over 20% - the situation in which we are in the last year, will increase the damage by another NIS 3-4 billion per year.
The damage will not only be to the state's expenses, but will eventually roll into the pockets of all of us through raising taxes to cover the deficit, reducing services and, of course, raising insurance rates.
The writer is a bereaved father
Full disclosure: the writer is a bereaved father, Ophir was killed in 2016 in a car accident known in advance, a red road that claimed lives every year and was neglected. After Ofir was killed and following a demonstration, echo and media pressure, the road was repaired at a relatively negligible cost for basic infrastructure and since then no more people have been killed on it.
In all of 2023 there were 361 deaths which was also an increase compared to 351 in 2022.
At the beginning of November 2024 we have already reached 375 dead
It is possible that we will pass the 400 not at the end of the year but at the beginning of December...
That's how difficult the situation is.
Thank you very much, my father, for the interpretation. Happy holiday to you and a good and blessed week.
Avi Albaum did not rest from continuous incitement as the punching bag, this time of course from Miri Regev..
It has nothing to do with Sara Regev, it has to do with the policy of the Ministry of Finance - flooding the state with private vehicles for car taxes, fuel, spare parts, the insurance industry. There is a connection to the Ministry of Internal Security - the traffic police do not enforce enough and you do not see them on the roads. Ministry of Justice - lenient punishment, a revolving door for traffic offenders, no deterrence, courts showing mercy to truck drivers with dozens of offenses 'because this is their livelihood'.
Actually the Ministry of Transport does not influence road accidents. No matter how many roads he finances, and how much he tries to transfer the public to public transportation, sticks are put in the wheels. The treasury continues to invest in roads and patents for revenue (congestion fees...) to finance future illusions in 25 years on a metro system, instead of narrowing the routes of private cars deploy a system of bus routes in the country (exclusive bus routes - NATAZ) and make traveling by car to work or shopping an alternative the least comfortable.
The government ministries allow crime on the roads - they allow the phenomenon of car theft by criminals to continue unhindered (even though there is a separation fence and barriers), they allow people with disabilities to park on sidewalks, block crosswalks, and disturb pedestrians. They allow the phenomenon of errand rides on motorcycles to continue in spite of some The ever-increasing number of fatal accidents, allowing excess traffic that crowds the roads even more because of the electric vehicles, and not working to create a driving culture neither in education nor in enforcement and punishment nor in removing distracted drivers from the roads permanently (we all know these drivers with flashing lights, crazy zigzagging on the roads and unreasonable speed There are cameras - you just have to look at them and get these drivers off the roads, some of them with prison sentences for reckless driving. You don't have to wait for accidents to happen.
I write about this statistic again and again in every news about another fatal accident in the area.
Of course, all the writers are quick to point the finger at Sarah Regev, because they have a political interest, as if previous ministers had done miracles and wonders. The statistics since the corona virus have increased, the congestion on the roads has increased, the riots on the roads have increased. It is not the role of the Ministry of Transportation but the role of all government ministries, the Knesset, the courts to put an end to road crime and they refuse to do it. It's not a war because they just don't fight. Here and there the police do show operations to seize improved vehicles and also catch people who drive illegally or without a license.
It's not enough. Road crime is widespread and is the result of hundreds of thousands of additional vehicles. The pensioner who just stops by a pot shop in the middle of a driving lane for a few minutes "because she couldn't find parking" and because of her overtaking two vehicles collided with each other, is a traffic offender. As soon as such offenses are enforced, we will start getting order on the roads. Until then - we will have a new record in the number of deaths, the number of fatal accidents and the cost of damage to the economy.
This is precisely why the Road War Authority was established - to integrate the work of all related government ministries. And as long as the authority is in the Ministry of Transportation - it is the responsibility of the incumbent minister.
Father, we all know that the Authority for the War on Road Accidents, apart from collecting statistics and some conferences and articles, does nothing since its establishment, has not brought any result, has not created any turning point.
It has nothing to do with the Ministry of Transportation. Traffic accidents should be the task of several government ministries, when the unpopular decisions should be a turning point in owning a private vehicle in Israel, and they are unable to do so because of many factors that press to continue to flood the country with private vehicles non-stop and a public that is probably willing to sacrifice hundreds of people a year and hundreds of thousands of shekels. On his new Chinese car...
I'm tired of hearing about Regev, let's say they budget the Harlbad by another NIS 200 million, what exactly will they do? How many more high-profile campaigns? Will they hire another PR person to push items into the news?
It's not serious.
Before, during the Corona period, they did not leave the house. They left the fewest, so the number of dead is small.
Deaths..it is clear why many people did not travel and left their homes because of Corona and there were bans on going out so as not to get infected. They did not divide all the areas in the land of Asor North, the central area. the southern region. I think most of the dead are in the south. Who are involved in The Hague in the South? My husband was a reservist in the south
and Bimmer
A few died in the south
were killed in all areas. The country in the center and south, and in the north. In my opinion, most of the dead are in the south and Arab truck drivers are involved. My husband almost went to the attack that was in the army. On the way home, a truck driver tried to run him off the road. Witness Sahali found it appropriate to get off the road because there is a danger that he is about to be killed by Mada'a who for a long time tried to get him off the road. So let the police investigate the incident.
Does anyone have any expectations from Miri Regev other than the continuation of nothing and nothing?
No one will make a memorial day for the victims of the accidents. Nor about the 1500 who die a year from air pollution. Because fascist mind engineering is working overtime here.
Do you have it in the most absurd and unnecessary?