Record Breaking Death Toll on Israel’s Streets. You can’t solve this with more Bureaucracy.

2024 was the deadliest year concerning the death toll on Israel’s streets. 434 people had been killed on the roads in Israel. The most vulnerable victims are children, as always.

National Road Safety Authority Chairman Yoram Halevy said “It’s unacceptable that everywhere else in the world the numbers are dropping, and only ours are rising.” during the ‘Economic Affairs Committee’ of the Knesset which convened this Sunday.

Much of what has been said in the debate is correct and should be implemented. The committee chair, MK David Bitan (Likud), said that the committee had previously proposed strengthening the NRSA with positions, budgets, and powers and moving it under the auspices of the Prime Minister’s Office. Agreed, but that is not enough and remains a “bureaucratic” solution.

The main resistance also comes from the other ministries, who do not want to see their budgets and powers dwindling. Once again, the well-being and interests of the bureaucracy are more important than those of the population. This is one of the unnamed problems.

Cmdr. Amir Jibli of the Israel Police Traffic Department addressed another problem. “There is a problem of deterrence. We will see a change as soon as this is resolved through administrative courts and technological projects that will lead to 80% of the tickets [issued] automatically. I hope we will see different results next year,” It is unbelievable but true that in the high-tech state of Israel, 80% of all tickets are written by hand, said National Road Safety Authority Chairman Yoram Halevy.

What is really needed are strict controls. Road checks are de facto non-existent in Israel. All emergency vehicles should be required to drive according to the regulations.

In other words, if they are not on duty, they should use the indicator, for example. One of the most common causes of accidents. If you don’t know where the other vehicle is going, the probability of an accident increases. Fact.

All too often, one has to realize that emergency vehicles, official vehicles and professional vehicles (taxis, carriages, trucks, etc.) hardly follow any driving rules. And nobody cares.

Finally, Israel’s roads need to be repaired. Poor roads with inadequate road markings are a primary source of accidents.

The renovation of the roads should also go hand in hand with the renovation of the Israeli vehicle fleet. Taxes on cars are simply too high, which is why you see so many vehicles on Israel’s streets that are barely roadworthy.

Once all this has been done, we can talk about bureaucratic improvements. But not the other way around.