Police in Ohr Akiva on Tuesday were involved in routine car stops, inspecting driver documentation. They were surprised by one driver, an 89-year-old resident of Caesarea, who did not have a license. They were even more surprised to learn the citizen explained he has been driving his vehicle for years, for 50 years, but simply never got around to getting a drivers license. He told them that since he has a foreign license, he always assumed it was good for here as well.
His vehicle was impounded for 30 days and he was told that he is forbidden to drive.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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9 Responses
Did anyone ask him if he was a tank driver in the IDF?
He never got stopped in 50 years?? That is very impressive!
He drove “his vehicle” (ie, the *same* vehicle for 50 years?!
This is indeed shameful. It shows the illogical situation of drivers licenses.
In Israel, many accidents are caused by (truck) drivers with tens of traffic violations on their record. They are allowed to drive – but a man who drove for 50 years without any damage is not?!
How did he get insurance or a license plate?
#4 You don’t need a license to get a car registered. It could be in someone else’s name. OR — possibly 50 years ago they were not so makpid on these things, and then once it was registered the first time, they just kept on renewing it.
“he has a foreign license” – I dont get an Israeli license when i go to Israel and I drive there too.
If you live outside of Israel and are visiting you can use your licence from wherever you live. If you live here for more than I think 90 days you need to get an Israeli drivers licence. Same thing is true in most places, At least the USA and UK. (though the time frame changes a bit)
#6 – If you move here, you need to switch your license within a year or you’ll have to redo drivers ed
I got an Israeli license when I made Aliyah. At the time they had just passed a new law requiring driving test for all Olim due to the high incidence of fraud by immigrants from Russia et al.
I still feel the test was to prove that I could drive as badly as the average Israeli. It was a total farce.