COVID-19 is reshaping how Israelis commute, as individuals shift from public transportation and personal automobiles to electrical scooters and bikes, leading to extra accidents and deaths as a consequence of a scarcity of enforcement, based on Or Yarok (Inexperienced Gentle) spokesperson OuncesDror.With the nationwide lockdown, there have been 70% fewer automobiles on the roads, but the lower in accidents “was lower than you’d count on” in April, he informed The Jerusalem Put up.There was a 36% drop in accidents within the European Union, however Israel reported a drop of 19%, Dror stated. Italy reported the best drop in deadly accidents (86%). Some international locations, together with France, reported a rise in rushing violations, which they recommend is as a result of the empty roads tempt individuals to drive 50% above the velocity restrict, he stated.On Sunday, Shmuel Glick, 16, was killed whereas driving an electrical scooter in Jerusalem. An growing variety of Israelis have misplaced their lives or suffered trauma as a consequence of this new technique of transportation.Final 12 months, Ari Nesher, 17, was killed whereas driving an electrical scooter when soccer participant Itzhak Asefa drove into him. Mannequin Shlomit Malka slipped off her electrical scooter in 2017 and was placed on a ventilator. She ultimately recovered.“There are 300,000 electrical scooters on the street, and the state does nothing,” Dror stated.The variety of accidents involving electrical scooters rose from 286 in 2018 to 807 in 2019, he stated.No license is required to journey a scooter, the police wouldn’t have sufficient visitors officers, and no particular lanes have been created for riders, which suggests they compete with pedestrians on the sidewalk or with automobiles on the street, risking hitting individuals or being hit themselves, Dror stated.“After we discuss sporting a helmet, the academic marketing campaign has totally failed,” he stated.Amongst those that undergo head accidents whereas driving scooters, 80% don’t put on a helmet, 56% by no means put on one, and 12% speak on the telephone whereas they journey, Dror stated.“In Berlin, they expanded lanes in order that individuals who journey scooters may bypass each other with out getting too shut and get contaminated with COVID-19,” he informed the Put up. “Right here, all people is competing with all people over roads and house. Israel has third-world-level transportation chaos.”Resulting from COVID-19, some individuals bought their automobile to make ends meet, and lots of started to hunt work in supply providers. As many individuals started working from house to scale back the chance of being contaminated, the demand for electrical scooters went up, particularly in cities.“The human issue is what causes 90% of accidents,” Dr. Ilit Oppenheim, director of the Shlomo Shmeltzer Institute for Good Transportation at Tel Aviv College, informed the Put up. “The opposite elements are infrastructure and automobiles.”A robust supporter of the view that this isn’t an either-or difficulty, she stated a revolution in how individuals commute is starting.Oppenheim cited Basic Motors’ OnStar service for example. When customers have technical troubles with their automobile, all they should do is place a finger on the dashboard, and a sign for assist is distributed, she stated.“The long run shall be about vehicle-to-everything [V2X] communication,” Oppenheim stated. “A automobile will ‘communicate’ with electrical scooters round it, in addition to with visitors lights and pedestrians who’ve cell phones.”This might be efficient in a number of methods, she stated. For instance, an emergency car would get a transparent path to the hospital as it might “communicate” to all different automobiles on the street, in addition to with visitors lights, to not point out “telling” the hospital emergency room to organize to just accept the affected person.Till then, “we have to supply a holistic resolution” to save lots of lives on the street throughout COVID-19, Oppenheim stated.
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