Nassim Aasi, head of the Beterem center for Children’s Health and Safety’s Arab section, said Wednesday that the group had started a large-scale project aimed at improving road safety in the Bedouin sector. A disproportionate number of young Bedouin children are killed in road accidents, and a two-year-old Bedouin girl was run over and killed by her uncle on Wednesday as she played near her house.
Aasi said there were a number of reasons for the high rate of accidents in the sector. Ignorance of safety standards is the primary cause of accidents, he said, followed by a lack of proper infrastructure in the communities. In addition, he said, “children’s safety is not always a priority.”
Beterem plans to fight the phenomena by holding lectures on the subject in Bedouin communities, working with Bedouin children, and discussing the subject with mothers who visit children’s medical centers, Aasi said. In addition, he said, the group will work with the Road Safety Authority on a project that will get professionals to lecture on road safety in Bedouin mosques.