The comprehensive investigation into the fatal 2012 crash that claimed the lives of eight members of the Atias family z”l has led to alarming information. Speaking on Channel 10 News earlier in the week, journalist Razi Barkai expressed outrage, explaining that the entire nation heard the horrifying last minutes of the family’s life, the ongoing 911 call as the police dispatcher spoke with the family, as Rabbi Atias was fighting to slow down the vehicle after the gas pedal was stuck in full throttle.
Killed in the crash were Rav Rafael Atias, 42, his wife and their children.
As he desperately tried to navigate the van while it continued to pick up speed the 911 dispatcher was simply clueless. Barkai explains that several runs were made on the same road under the same conditions and they learned that if the vehicle was simply placed in neutral, it would have come to a stop on his own after several hundred meters. He stated “without a doubt the accident could have and should have been avoided”
Razi Barkai reported that unlike in other countries that bring in independent investigators, Israel relied on experts from Mitsubishi. Barkai explained that there have been other reports involving a stuck gas pedal in other same model Mitsubishi, but the expert investigator, who is employed by the car manufacturer, insists that it was nothing to do with vehicle failure. He questions how the findings of a Mitsubishi employee without bringing in an independent expert.
When a senior police official was asked to comment he clearly felt uncomfortable, saying that “lessons were learned” from the incident as he danced around questions as to why no one thought to tell the panicked driver to put the car in neutral.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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3 Responses
Every driver needs to know that putting a car in neutral will slow it down. I taught that to my daughters when they first started driving.
yanky:
you’re brilliant! I’m driving for years and I never used it. Let alone when pple are in panic. This story was one of the saddest stories in a long time. Of course it helps pointing fingers , it’s a human response. The only thing gained from it is for the future so that people or dispatchers that have pples lives in their hands should be better educated and know how to assist pple in such situations.
Reply to #2 – well said!! And btw its not just by car accidents, it is also if a child is choking or if a person stops breathing, b”h we have Hatzolah and they arrive within minutes to save thelives, but let’s say in a area with no phone service? How many people are educated in performing the Heimlich Maneuver or CPR?? not toomany. And then the Finger Pointing begins by We Could’ve, We Should’ve saved their lives.
It’s time for our community and for all community’s to get some basic knowledge to not to panic and to know some basic information on how to save people’s lives.