Coffee (illustration)
Coffee (illustration)Flash 90

Drivers who have to be on the roads late at night will now be able to stop at gas stations’ convenience stores and buy a cup of coffee for just one shekel.

The new initiative was unveiled Monday by Deputy Transportation Minister Tzipi Hotovely (Likud), in cooperation with the Israel National Road Safety Authority. Under the initiative, convenience stores at leading gas stations throughout Israel will sell coffee to drivers for one shekel between midnight and 6:00 a.m.

Hotovely explained that the initiative is one of many in the fight against road accidents. 18% of deaths in traffic accidents occur at night and 17% of all road accidents occur at night, despite the fact that there are fewer vehicles on the roads, she noted.

She stressed that during winter time, when there are more hours of darkness a day, there are more accidents that occur at night.

Israel's leading gas stations will offer drivers to stop for refreshments at their convenience stores and buy a cup of coffee for a shekel, and thus increase their vigilance while driving. Along with the coffee, drivers will receive materials from the National Road Safety Authority on the subject of proper driving at night.

"The project aims to provide incentives for drivers to stop for late night refreshments and thus significantly reduce the number of accidents at night," said Hotovely.

"Based on safety studies carried out in Israel, fatigue and lack of awareness are the main reasons for the fatalities in road accidents at night - so I believe that coffee for a shekel is the correct response to such accidents. This is a public service which also provides the appropriate solution to combat road accidents at night," she added.