A pile of smashed-up cars in the shape of a bottle of wine can be seen these days on the Ayalon highway, the main coastal highway near Tel Aviv. The sign on the display, reading "If you drink, don't drive", explains to everyone that this display is another step in the battle against traffic accidents.
The display was put together by "Nur Signs", the "Or Yarok" Road Safety Organization, the Avnon Shelmor Avichai Advertisement Firm, and the Ramat Ha'Sharon Municipality.
Shmuel Abuav, Exec. Dir. of Or Yarok explains: "The display expresses the grim truth regarding drinking and driving and the lethal results. Every year around 5-hundred accidents happen as a result of drivers who drank alcohol before they got on the road. This is an intensive and strong display, with the tangible presentation of cars – monuments and testimonials for the fatal accidents that occurred. The display is here to shock and shake the driver and tell him – "here's a reminder – be cautious – you can never drink and drive"!"
The display of ruined cars was put up on a day of bad news in terms of the statistics of traffic accidents – after a year of improvement, 2010 seems to be taking us the other way.
"The year 2009 was a year of good news", explains Abuav, "100 less were killed in traffic accidents as opposed to 2008. Never before had the state of Israel accomplished such an improvement – a decline of more than 20%. And now here we are today, summarizing the first quarter of 2010 with an increase of 20% in the number of killed in accidents. This number is a result of the cuts – there are less patrol vehicles on the streets, less enforcement, less education for high school boys and girls before they receive their licenses."
Abuav states that it's time to gather all the relevant organizations and ministries to create an emergency plan. "There is one main goal: to bring back the police enforcement in order to restore deterrence. And to send the message to drivers that road crimes can end in fatal accidents."