This amounts to “more dead than in Israel’s wars and as a result of terrorist attacks combined,” Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein pointed out. Since 1948, nearly 24,000 Israelis have been killed in terrorist attacks or active combat duty. The fact that Israel’s roads are more deadly than the battlefield is something that Edelstein blames not only on the infrastructure, but also on the reckless way that many Israelis drive. The typical Israeli driver is notorious for speeding, tailgating and honking. The phrase “war on the roads” is by no means misplaced in speaking of driving in Israel. It should also be noted that every third traffic fatality is an Israeli Arab, although they only account for a fifth of the population.
Nevertheless, the number of traffic fatalities per capita is no greater in Israel than in, say, Germany. In both countries, for every 100,000 people statistics show that 4.7 people are killed annually in road accidents. In Switzerland and Norway, the rate is 4.3, in the Netherlands 3.9, in Great Britain 3.7, and in the USA 11.4. According to the...
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