Are traffic accidents worse in Israel than America?

By Malka Eisenberg

Americans like to talk about aggressive Israeli drivers and the high death toll on Israeli roads, but American roads are actually more deadly in almost every respect, according to Prof. David Shinar of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

While Israeli drivers probably are more aggressive, Shinar said, “proportionally, more people die in the U.S. on the road than in Israel.” He credits hard work by traffic safety groups for a nearly 20 percent drop in Israeli traffic fatalities from 2008 to 2009. Much higher rates of seat belt use in Israel — nearly 95 percent compliance in the front seat — also get credit, he said.

Public attention to crashes is much greater in Israel. “I think every injury from an accident and certainly every fatality makes the national news,” he said. “Here there are only three degrees of separation.”

Driving under the influence is less common in Israel than in the U.S., though the statistical effect of fewer DUI’s on fatalities has yet to be shown, according to Prof. Shinar. In addition, emergency treatment after a crash, and evacuation to a hospital, are quicker in densely populated Israel, making survival more likely.

Still, Shinar concedes the overall likelihood of being hurt or killed on the roads is much greater in Israel because Americans drive so much more, mile for mile.

Shinar has studied safety and driving behavior for 40 years. He heads BGU’s Center for Research in Ergonomics and Traffic Safety, and Israel’s National Road Safety Authority. He is also a member of the Executive board of the International Council on Accidents, Drugs and Traffic Safety. When he stared in 1977 the university provided a stopwatch as a research tool. Today he oversees state of the art driving and pedestrian simulation labs, some just six months old, paid for with research grants. In several labs stand large, wrap-around screens, one arranged in front of an automobile seat with seat belts; another dominated by a new Cadillac, donated by General Motors.

Cell phones are a matter of great concern to Shinar.

“I know it’s not safe,” he stated, when discussing cell phone usage in cars. “Handheld or hands-free, they are identically dangerous. There are hundreds of studies and hands-free is just as bad. The phone occupies the brain; it’s not a hand but brain holding activity. The eyes are hardly active when the driver is on the phone but very active when off the phone.”

“The public ignorance regarding cell phones extends to the law making bodies,” Shinar continued. “People do not want to stop talking on the phone. When we have a handheld ban you are sending the wrong message. The implication is that hands-free is safe.”

Contrary to popular belief, a passenger is not as great a disturbance to concentration as a telephone, he stressed. “The phone is more distracting than a passenger. The passenger is more aware of the traffic situation; if you’re trying to exit a highway the passenger won’t give information. A passenger is like a copilot,” Shinar said.

A main focus of Shinar’s research is about improving the interaction between humans and computers. Technology is a “double edged sword,” he said. Although technology has improved driver and pedestrian safety it has also increased distractions with entertainment in cars. Advances he mentioned include adaptive cruise control that slows a car down as it approaches another vehicle; a warning if the driver drifts out of the lane and automatic steering back to the center of the lane; and technology to detect if a driver falls asleep.

It’s “built into the human brain that it is almost impossible to have constant attention,” Shinar said, citing World War II reports of radar operators who were well rested but simply began missing targets. Accidents happen when the environment changes unexpectedly, he said, mentioning the possibility of an alarm to make drivers aware of changing road conditions. One study that’s been performed in the BGU labs measured driver reaction to an announcement over the radio “to alert the driver in cases of lapsed attention.”

Other research studied fatigued and distracted driving and driving under the influence of alcohol and opiates. Alcohol makes a driver feel in control leading him to drive faster; under the influence of marijuana the driver doesn’t feel “totally there” and thus drives slower, though that slowdown doesn’t compensate, Shinar said. In a study using THC, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol — the principle reactive component of marijuana — drivers “just stopped and began dreaming.”

Shinar’s research has discovered that younger, inexperienced drivers tend to look straight forward; experienced drivers look to the sides, searching for hazards. Researchers are working to see if younger people can perhaps be trained to increase awareness and recognize hazards.

In his studies on fatigue in driving, he relied personally on books on tape and mental trivia games to stay awake. Israeli truck drivers clued him in on a “very effective” and very Israeli method: cracking sunflower seeds. “We did a study on it,” he said. “It was very alerting but the side effects are you get hooked on it and it’s messy.”