Police have been cracking down on use of mobile devices while driving to increase safety and reduce the number of casualties and accidents on Israel’s roads.
The ticketing breaks down as follows:
- Against truck drivers, about 510 traffic reports were recorded, including: safety violations, overcharges and more.
- The driver's license of 43 drivers was revoked for 30 days for serious traffic violations.
- Some 23 vehicles were suspended for 30 days and taken to the Israel Police storage yard.
Further, use of phone cameras and/or traditional cameras is also forbidden while driving in Israel. Five hundred drivers were caught using cameras and were ticketed accordingly.
Data published by the traffic division of the Israel police in February 2018 found cell phones are the number one cause of traffic accidents in Israel. In 2017, there was an increase of 31% in the number of traffic tickets issued in Israel for mid-driving cell phone use—108 thousand tickets compared to 82,300 in 2016. Inter-city roads saw a 51% increase in cell phone related tickets.
Relatedly, Prof. Tova Rosenbloom, head of the Research Institute of Human Factors in Road Safety in the management department at Bar-Ilan University, told The Jerusalem Post that Israel has an abnormal amount of traffic accidents involving pedestrians. In every Western country, pedestrian injuries make up only 10% of the total traffic injuries. In Israel, the numbers are between 30% and 40%, this is totally abnormal.”
Sara Levi contributed to this report.