With 2016 winding down, it has already surpassed 2015 R”L in the number of road deaths, which on Sunday morning 18 Kislev stands at 357. In fact, 2016 has already been the worst year for traffic deaths in the past five years.

There have already been 357 deaths in 2016 as compared to 356 (2015), 319 (2014), 309 (2013) and 292 (2012).

There is much criticism amid a growing police force, more traffic enforcement units, additional speed and traffic light cameras; yet the death toll on the nation’s roadways continues to climb with each passing year.

Many feel the main contributory factor is smartphones and the habits of today’s driver, as people text and drive as well as pedestrians being far less alert crossing streets as they too are often preoccupied with their phones or have shut out the outside world with stereophonic headphones.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)