'A ticking time bomb': State Comptroller criticizes handling of road accidents

"Israel's roads are a ticking time bomb. Since the establishment of the state, approximately 33,000 people have been killed in accidents on the road. Behind every dead person and every injured person is a family whose life has been destroyed. In addition, the economic cost of road accidents reaches about 16 billion shekels a year," State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman warned in a scathing audit report on road safety.

Englman asserts that Israeli governments have failed to fight road accidents over the years. While the rate of road accidents in Israel has increased over the last decade, it has decreased in leading European countries. "Budgets for the National Road Safety Authority have been cut, many positions in the traffic police are unfilled, and the government is not meeting its targets in this area," he noted.

"Road accidents are not an inevitable fate. Addressing this issue must be a top priority for Transportation Minister Miri Regev and the government as a whole. The government should adopt a goal of zero fatalities in road accidents, as is common in leading European countries."

The report reveals that while the number of fatalities in European countries decreased by about 22% in the last decade, in Israel, it increased by 16% between 2012 and 2022. According to Or Yarok data, this upward trend has continued into early 2024, with the number of fatalities being about 25% higher than last year during the same period.

"The data show that the various measures taken by governments over the last decade have not had a significant impact on the scale of the phenomenon and have not succeeded in reducing the number of fatalities and injuries in road accidents," Englman further states.

"Addressing issues related to road safety is fragmented and falls under the responsibility of many governmental bodies, including the Ministry of Transport, the National Road Safety Authority, the Traffic Division of the Israel Police, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health, the judiciary, and local authorities."

Problems that have led to the high number of road accidents

According to Englman, success in the fight against road accidents requires a leading and authoritative body and establishing a budgeted strategic plan that includes clear and measurable targets. The report also reveals that when comparing the change in the number of serious injuries between 2012 and 2022, Israel ranks second to last among 29 European countries.

While the number of serious injuries in Israel increased by about 21%, most countries saw a decrease in this metric, with the average for the European Union countries examined showing a decrease of 18%. An analysis of the fatality data from road accidents in Israel illustrates that about 64% of the fatalities occur in intercity areas and about 36% in urban areas. Less than a third of the accidents occur on non-urban roads.

Age groups that are particularly prone to severe injuries relative to their share of the population are young people aged 15-24 and those aged 65 and over. The rate of fatalities and serious injuries in road accidents for those aged 65 and over was higher than the share of this group in the population throughout the period from 2013 to 2022.

On an annual average, the rate of fatalities and serious injuries for those aged 65 and over among all fatalities was about 20%, significantly higher than their share in the population, which is about 11.5%. Relative to their share in the population, Arab male drivers were involved in more accidents than Jewish male drivers in all age groups between 2013 and 2019, with the difference being most notable in the younger age groups.

The comptroller found that the information collected by the police on road accidents is partial and mainly focuses on serious and fatal accidents. The police do not collect complete data on minor accidents, accidents involving only property damage, or accidents involving only non-motorized vehicles (in 2022 there were about 2,550 serious and fatal accidents, and each year, there are about 45,000 minor accidents that are not investigated).

One reason for the partial data collection is the understaffing of traffic investigators in the police, whose job is to investigate road accidents. He also warns that the police do not use advanced systems for documenting the accident scene, such as dedicated cameras that can capture the scene from different angles before the accident site is cleared.

In 2021, the Transportation Ministry and the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) prepared a national road safety plan (the "50 by 30" plan), which set a target to halve the number of serious injuries in road accidents in Israel by 2030 compared to 2019 figures. However, despite the plan being prepared according to a government decision to serve as a multi-year plan for promoting and enhancing road safety, and despite significant resources invested in its preparation and the inclusion of a long list of tasks to be implemented, it did not include cost estimates or budgetary sources for the actions.

The audit also reveals that since establishing the NSRA, the budgets it is responsible for implementing and allocating to other entities have significantly decreased, from about 382 million NIS in 2008 to about 141 million NIS in 2022. The audit further claims that the effectiveness of enforcement in Israel is not optimal, partly due to a lack of resources.

Despite government decisions in 2005 and 2017 to strengthen the traffic police and increase the number of officers, the audit found that police presence is consistently insufficient. From 2017 to June 2023, the Traffic Division's authorized personnel positions, specifically the National Traffic Police, remained unchanged at 1,044. The Traffic Division has 264 patrol cars at its disposal, but due to personnel shortages, it operates only 120 patrol cars per shift.

The comptroller also examined police enforcement activities in the field and found that the data indicate that police enforcement actions over the past decade have not improved the number of accidents and casualties.

The number of annual reports regarding driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs has decreased by almost 55% since 2014, from 9,771 to 4,422 in 2021. Relative to European countries, the rate of seat belt usage in Israel is low, especially in the back seats of vehicles (about 70%), and particularly in the Arab society - approximately 64% in the back seats and 68% in the front seats compared to 91% in the front seats in the general population. The number of reports issued yearly is high (about 121,000 in 2021) and indicates the depth of the problem.

In 2021, there was a record number of license suspensions (about 19,600), and in about 75% of cases (approximately 14,600 cases), the licenses were not surrendered as required. The audit also revealed that between 2021 and 2019, an average of about 5,000 reports per year were issued to drivers whose licenses were revoked and who continued to drive in violation of the law. "This indicates a widespread phenomenon," the State Comptroller warned.

Englman further states that the number of traffic judges has remained at 40 since 2016, but the number of cases has increased by about 40%. Therefore, the workload on each judge has increased. Between 2018 and 2021, an average of about 136,000 traffic cases were opened each year.

Each year, about 140,000 traffic cases are opened on average, and each judge handles about 3,300 cases per year. Risk centers on interurban roads are identified based on the multiplication of accidents at those points or short road segments. For this reason, roads with a high number of fatal accidents, but which are spread out, are not addressed within the framework of risk-center treatment. These include roads 71, 232, 55, 90, 60, and 264.

Thus, for example, Highway 90, which crosses Israel from Metula to Eilat, is characterized by many safety defects, such as unregulated entrances to the settlements located along it, narrow curbs, the absence of a separation barrier between routes in parts of it, dark and unlit sections and cracked road sections with potholes and depressions.

Between 2003 and 2020, 2,480 accidents occurred on the road, 251 people were killed in them, about a third of them in the southern part of the road, between the Arava junction and Eilat. The State Comptroller further warned that gaps have been found that point to the inability to enforce the integrity of vehicles, safety officers, and cargo transportation.

The State Comptroller also warns that gaps have been found, indicating a lack of capability to adequately enforce vehicle fitness, safety officer oversight, and cargo transportation. "During inspections, the fitness of airbags and other vehicle components is not checked. The Supervision Division in the Transportation Ministry does not perform weight checks on trucks – because there are no weighing devices available," the audit report further alleges.

The Israel Police responded

The audit report raises important and central issues that affect society as a whole, and most of them deserve considerable attention. As part of the ongoing struggle against road fatalities and traffic law enforcement, the Israel Police views road safety as paramount and invests significant resources and efforts in enforcement, alongside preventive actions and education, aiming to change driving culture and reduce road accidents.

The police's role is to enforce traffic laws, assuming that reasoned enforcement will lead to changes in driving norms and consequently to a reduction in road accidents. Every year, the Traffic Division analyzes the data from the past year, focusing on understanding the factors contributing to road accidents and segmenting accident-prone roads, including affected populations, by regions and sectors. Based on the findings, detailed action plans are formulated for the following year.

According to the work plans, the police and all units of the Traffic Division are operating on traffic routes while focusing enforcement on 'impactful' offenses, strengthening governance and deterrence through the exhaustion of legal procedures and increased use of administrative powers (license revocation of police officers, suspension), the promotion of enforcement procedures, increasing presence and visibility through deployment of mobile units on accident-prone roads and high-traffic routes, strengthening communication with stakeholders, and providing information to increase public awareness and trust.

It should be emphasized that enforcement activity is just one aspect of a series of actions required to reduce the number of road accidents. Other government agencies' cooperation in education, communication, and law enforcement is also needed.

Regarding the lack of staff, it should be noted that the Israel Police has been intensifying the recruitment of police officers in recent months, and the staffing of traffic police officers is a high priority.

Regarding the transfer of data, it should be noted that the police regularly, under the law, provide the Road Safety Authority and various organizations involved in the field with information and data about traffic accidents.