The localities with the highest percentages of Jerusalem travelers are those adjacent to the city to the east, south and north.
By YAIR ASSAF-SHAPIRACasualties in Traffic Accidents in Jerusalem, by Locality of Residence, 2008-2017(photo credit: JERUSALEM INSTITUTE FOR POLICY RESEARCH)
Studying traffic accidents helps reduce the number and damage caused by this terrible phenomenon.But the accidents data can teach us other things as well. We tried to estimate the origin cities of people commuting to Jerusalem, by examining all the casualties in road accidents that occurred in the city in the last decade (between 2008 and 2017), broken down by where the injured person lives. For each locality, we compared the percentage of residents injured in accidents throughout Israel to those injured in accidents that occurred in Jerusalem. This figure indicates the percentage of residents who come to Jerusalem from that location.The localities with the highest percentages of Jerusalem travelers are those adjacent to the city to the east, south and north. For example, 82% of Ma’aleh Adumim residents injured in traffic accidents throughout the country were hurt in Jerusalem. Similar rates were recorded for Beitar Illit (81%), Givat Ze’ev (78%) and Efrat (75%). For these localities, Jerusalem is a major center due to their geographic location and, perhaps, also because of the nature of the population (for example, members of the ultra-Orthodox population who come to the city for holidays).In places west of Jerusalem, the percentages are lower. This group includes, for example, Tzur Hadassah (68%), Modi’in Illit (51%) and Mevaseret Zion (47%). These localities are connected to the city, but a higher percentage of their residents than the above-mentioned localities visit other places for employment, recreation, shopping, etc. It is interesting to note that the percentage in Mevaseret is significantly lower than that of Tzur Hadassah. This may be explained by the location of Mevaseret on the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv axis, with good access to both major cities, in contrast to Tzur Hadassah.There are activities for which people travel to the city during the day, such as employment or shopping, and there are reasons to travel to the city in the evening or at night, such as entertainment. It appears that for some of the localities, the percentage during the day was significantly different from the one at night (after sunset). The largest difference was found in Har Adar, where the percentage was 50% during the day, compared with only 10% at night. It seems that the residents of that community arrive in Jerusalem much more during the day, while in the evening they travel more to other places. Opposite examples include Modi’in Illit (43% during the daytime and 58% at night) or Tzur Hadassah (63% during the day and 73% at night).These are data we wish we could stop collecting – so help us limit the data by driving carefully! Have a happy holiday!
