U.S. Tourists Forewarned: In Israel, Beware the Terrorist Israeli Driver

Many snows ago when we lived in Israel, I drove our trusty Citroën “station.”  Not only did I drive, but Israel is where I learned to drive a stick shift.

I will never forget stalling at a 5-point intersection (I think it was in the Emek Refaim neighborhood of Jerusalem), with El Busso-Biggo breathing down my neck to the right, and irate drivers in front, behind and on the side, screaming obsenities and honking at me—and I was so nervous, I couldn’t start the d---mn car!

When I visited Israel in 2005 after twenty-four years being away, I was appalled at the driving; if anything, it had gotten worse, because of the increased congestion.  I actually got behind the wheel once and tried driving in Petach Tikva onto the highway, but with poor signage and aggressive, honking and tail-gating drivers, I couldn't continue.  I actually pulled over on the shoulder of the highway (I was lucky there was a shoulder) and told my son to take over (ok, I'm a wimp).  Since then I have never driven there, and honestly don't know how I will get up the gumption to do so in the future. 

Well, folks, it wasn’t just me:  (as seen on JTA, from YNet) it looks like the U.S. State Department Travel site has gotten wind of this, and is warning American tourists about the Israeli driver, as well as some other things, not all of which I agree with.  Here's an excerpt.  Read the whole article here.

Aggressive driving is a serious problem in Israel, and many Israeli drivers do not obey traffic laws – they don't keep a save driving distance and don't signal before changing lanes or turning.

This is what the US State Department thinks about Israelis and Israeli drivers according to its updated guide on the State of Israel for the American tourist visiting the country.  

The State Department continued: The Israeli driver tends to make sudden stops in the middle of the street without any forewarning, particularly in the right-hand lane. Drivers must exercise significant caution on Israel's roads, especially in light of the high number of traffic accidents that result in injury and the very congested streets, specifically in urban areas. . . 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Great Debate: Is it Itsy Bitsy, or Inky Dinky, of Spider Fame?

Image
For the better part of a year, I've had an on-again, off-again debate with my D.H. as to the "correct" adjective in the children's finger-play nursery rhyme, "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider" (now you know which one I favor). My D. H. insists that the correct descriptive is "inky dinky," whereas I demur.  I vaguely recollect from my own childhood, either hearing " itsy-bitsy spider ," or even more familiar to me, the description "eency-weency," referring to said spider's miniscule size, yet plucky persistance, and how he (she?) braved the violent rainstorm which "washed it out" after the arduous climb up the water spout, yet doggedly climbed the spout again, after the sun came out and 'dried up all the rain.' Many, if not most of our American nursery rhymes originated on the other side of the pond, in England, for obvious reasons: the American colonists were British in origin, and brought with them the culture an
Read more

The End. Is there a Beginning...?

This is my first post back on Tikkun Olam since April 23rd, 2015. It does not feel real. Why is it that we never think we will ever have a JOLT in our lives that will change the entire life course we have been traveling? We continue on, day by day, complacent, even in the face of serious illness--believing that what we are living is the only reality; that it is immutable, that it is PHYSICAL: you can touch it, feel it, and it will continue to be there for you tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow... But it isn't. And it won't.  Because the unthinkable can, and does, happen, in time. To everybody. As it happened to me, almost a year ago, on August 10, 2015, when my DH - Dear Husband, of 46 years, died. I am living in an Alternate Universe. Because the universe in which I was living all my life until now, is gone. I still want to slap myself in the face and wake myself up. It's a dream. A terrible nightmare.  It's a horror movie with a frightening ending, but I will
Read more

Some Recent Israeli Accomplishments in her 67 Years: Independence Day 2015

Image
An update to Waze which might nip kidnappings in the bud, a possible cure for Alzheimer's, and water management methods California surely can use - just to mention three, on the occasion of Israel's 67th Independence Day celebrations: Lighting the (Independence Day) Torch of the Future of the World. (What a country; what a people!) Dr. Marta Weinstock-Rosin who invented the memory-improving drug Exelon speaks up about a possible future without Alzheimer's. A short excerpt about Dr. Weinstock-Rosin, below.  In many ways, Exelon, and its inventor, paved new paths in Israeli medicine, and Israeli society. Weinstock-Rosin, who is Orthodox, was born in Vienna and fled with her family to Britain in 1939, narrowly escaping from the Nazis. She came to Israel with her family in 1969, and became a professor at Hebrew University in 1981. In 1983, she became head of the Pharmacology department at the Hebrew University (now part of the Institute for Drug Research) in the Fa
Read more