Police to take action after seven die in weekend car accidents - Haaretz

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Mon., August 13, 2007 Av 29, 5767

Israel Time: 16:47 (EST+7)

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		A policeman inspecting the site of a fatal car crash on the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem Highway on Saturday. (Tomer Appelbaum)

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Last update - 11:47 12/08/2007

Police to take action after seven die in weekend car accidents

By Roni Singer-Heruti, Eli Ashkenazi and Jack Khoury and Haaretz staff

The traffic division of the Israel Police on Sunday decided to take a series of steps in the wake of a particularly lethal weekend of road accidents in which seven people lost their lives.

The head of the division, Major General Avi Ben Hamo, convened an emergency meeting of the senior staff. The participants decided to increase the number of patrol cars, to bolster weekend and nighttime shifts, and to embark on an emergency recruit of volunteers.

In a horrific accident Saturday afternoon on the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem Highway, a father, 45, and his 5-year-old daughter were killed. The mother, 39, and 6-year-old son were injured when a Volvo truck hit and crushed their Mitsubishi car, trapping the occupants.

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The truck driver, a 55-year-old East Jerusalem resident, was arrested after preliminary questioning revealed he had 190 prior traffic convictions. He was in shock, and at first had difficulty communicating with investigators, but later claimed that the Mitsubishi had braked suddenly.

Ben Hamo lamented the police's inability to remove from the roads those drivers who commit repeated traffic violation. "The current traffic protocols don't have guidelines for dealing with dangerous drivers. There is no requisite punishment for a specific number of violations; there aren't any sanctions in this field," he said.

"We have begun working on this issue today, in order to define what a dangerous driver is, and what kind of violations characterize this definition. I hope that we finish this task quickly in order to protect the entire population," Ben Hamo added.

Rescue crews removed the casualties and evacuated the mother and son to Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, with serious and light injuries, respectively.

Police closed down the highway from the Lod interchange, snarling traffic headed toward the capital.

According to other accounts, the truck driver had failed to maintain a safe distance from the car ahead. He will undergo a remand-extension hearing at Rishon Letzion Magistrate's Court on Sunday.

"There is no other way to describe what we witnessed: It is simply terror on the road," said firefighter Guy Mensharov, who commanded the rescue and recovery operation at the scene of the accident near the Ben Shemen interchange.

"The spectacle we saw as we began to try to get the bodies out was among the worst I've seen in my life. We firefighters, who ordinarily shift gears mentally in these incidents, could not take it, and there were some who shed tears."

The condition the bodies were in made it difficult for investigators to make a positive identification, and the names were therefore not released for publication Saturday night. However, about two hours after the accident, police contacted relatives to inform them of the crash. The family, from Holon, had been on its way to visit relatives in Jerusalem.

Earlier Saturday, an 82-year-old pedestrian was killed by a car on Aluf Sadeh Street in Ramat Gan. The driver, 20, was lightly injured and taken to Sheba hospital.

In another accident, a 41-year-old worker at a carwash near Ramat Hasharon was killed Saturday afternoon by a rolling car. A Tel Aviv man, 57, who brought his car to be washed at a gas station at the Kfar Hayarok intersection ran over the worker while trying to move the car. The worker was taken to Beilinson Hospital in critical condition and died there.

Shimrit Hillel, 23, from Moshav Hazor'im in the Lower Galilee was killed when two cars collided along Route 768 at the entrance to the industrial zone of Upper Tiberias. One car slowed down to make a turn and was rammed from behind by another car, which then veered off the road from the force of the impact and hit a woman who had finished crossing the road. The driver of the first car was lightly injured. An ambulance team evacuated the pedestrian in critical condition to Poriya Hospital, but she died a short while later.

Elsewhere in the north, a 20-year-old man from the Galilee village of Arabeh was killed Friday evening when his car overturned on the road between Sakhnin and Arabeh. Eyewitnesses reported a tire blowout, which caused the car to veer off the road at a sharp turn and crash into rocks along the shoulder. A passenger, 21, was taken to Western Galilee Hospital in moderate condition.

Later Saturday, a 55-year old man died at the Hasira intersection in Hertzliya. He crashed into the side of the road and died, apparently after suffering a heart attack.

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1.	dangerous drivers	06:34	\|	Monique	12/08/07

2.	Police need unmarked cars to really see whats happening.	06:53	\|	Lemmings Hotline	12/08/07

3.	Let me guess	06:57	\|	Mark Lincoln	12/08/07

4.	Road accidents - police call emergency meeting ...	07:12	\|	Fred	12/08/07

5.	Not enough enforcement --still	07:17	\|	Jake	12/08/07

6.	TRAFFIC CONVICTIONS	08:12	\|	JACK	12/08/07

7.	A Solution	08:29	\|	Phil	12/08/07

8.	The Biggest Threat to Israelis Are Israeli Drivers	09:00	\|	Seth	12/08/07

9.	truck drivers and Israel	10:43	\|	ka	12/08/07

10.	How can I live here?	10:44	\|	Jonny	12/08/07

11.	Too little, too late!	11:18	\|	J L	12/08/07

12.	Summary of the above suggestions	11:26	\|	Michael	12/08/07

13.	The Wild West	11:39	\|	Tova M.	12/08/07

14.	IMPORT 200 USA SHERRIFFS WHO MEAN BUSINESS	11:59	\|	paul harris	12/08/07

15.	The final solution to those who repeatedly violate traffic laws	11:59	\|	Stephen Isherwood	12/08/07

16.	Cars are lethal weapons	12:02	\|	Fussion	12/08/07

17.	Here are 2 simple ideas	12:33	\|	Robert	12/08/07

18.	TODAY they have begun working?	12:41	\|	sh	12/08/07

19.	Lack of maintenance	13:03	\|	victor	12/08/07

20.	Unmarked Cars- Of Course!	13:11	\|	Rafi	12/08/07

21.	#16 Fussion	13:13	\|	Chris Linthwaite	12/08/07

22.	#19 Victor	13:17	\|	Stephen Isherwood	12/08/07

23.	Johnny, Jerusalem	13:27	\|	sh	12/08/07

24.	accidents	13:44	\|	colin	12/08/07

25.	Catching jaywalkers instead of removing criminals	13:52	\|	Jerry	12/08/07

26.	That East Jerusalem truck driver	14:32	\|	Hannah	12/08/07

27.	The fault is in the policing	14:39	\|	Margie in Tel Aviv	12/08/07

28.	sh	14:46	\|	Jasmine Murphy	12/08/07

29.	Stephen Isherwood: final solution?	15:17	\|	Margie in Tel Aviv	12/08/07

30.	Reckless Drivers	15:18	\|	Julie	12/08/07

31.	driving in israel	15:41	\|	badfelafel	12/08/07

32.	New Laws and rRegulations must be made. Severe Penalties.	15:49	\|	De	12/08/07

33.	The solution	16:06	\|	justice	12/08/07

34.	Doing more than one thing at a time	16:48	\|	sh	12/08/07

35.	#22 Stephen Isherwood	16:48	\|	ruth	12/08/07

36.	Stephen Isherwood: final solution?	17:04	\|	Hannah	12/08/07

37.	sh	17:06	\|	Jasmine Murphy	12/08/07

38.	Israeli driving	17:46	\|	Nik Miller	12/08/07

39.	#21 Chris Linthwaite	18:01	\|	Fussion	12/08/07

40.	FALSE HANNAH ALERT! #26, 31	18:04	\|	Hannah	12/08/07

41.	Arab Hannah	18:21	\|	Hannah	12/08/07

42.	#39 Fussion	19:09	\|	Chris Linthwaite	12/08/07

43.	#36 Hannah	19:11	\|	Stephen Isherwood	12/08/07

44.	re 27 margie	19:33	\|	JW	12/08/07

45.	MURDER ON OUR ROADS / VOLUNTEER FORCE NEEDED	19:33	\|	Cad Elak	12/08/07

46.	7 die in road accidents	19:51	\|	Nicole	12/08/07

47.	Nicole - Jerusalem	20:43	\|	Nik Miller	12/08/07

48.	Isherwood	22:19	\|	Hannah	12/08/07

49.	Number Plates	22:26	\|	BadDriver	12/08/07

50.	The Government is Pro Road terror	22:39	\|	Duvdevan	12/08/07

51.	I`m so *&^%$ angry	16:35	\|	Donna	13/08/07

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