Road Safety Authority Warns of Dangerous Ayalon Highway Lane

The CEO of the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA), Gili Cohen, has warned the CEO of Ayalon Highways, Orly Stern, about the dangers of a new fast lane on the Ayalon Highway, calling it a "new risk center." Cohen cited infrastructure and enforcement gaps following a series of accidents since the lane's opening.

In the first three months of the lane's operation, five serious accidents occurred at its interface, resulting in two fatalities. Cohen noted that in all these incidents, vehicles crossed the yellow line or separation bollards and collided with vehicles in the fast lane. The current setup, he explained, involves buses traveling at high speeds adjacent to congested lanes, separated only by bollards designed to limit but not entirely prevent crossing. This arrangement, he warned, increases the likelihood of drivers attempting to cross to bypass traffic and exacerbates the severity of collisions due to speed differentials.

Cohen emphasized the "safe system" approach, which posits that roads should be forgiving of human error. "The transportation system must be designed so that a mistake does not end in death or serious injury," he stated. He requested an urgent meeting with Ayalon Highways' engineering and planning teams, the police, and the NRSA to discuss alternatives and review traffic monitoring data before the meeting.

His warning comes just a day after 17 people were injured in an accident on the Ayalon Highway. In that incident, a school bus attempted to enter the public transport lane by crossing the yellow bollards, colliding with a bus and then hitting a concrete wall. The minibus driver was initially in moderate condition but later deteriorated to very serious. A 17-year-old girl sustained moderate injuries, and 15 others were lightly injured.