Carnage on the roads: An electric scooter rider and a motorcyclist were killed in two serious accidents involving trucks in Tel Aviv and Petah Tikva.
The accident in Tel Aviv occurred on Hamsger Street. The rider, about 30 years old, was trapped in the back of the truck. MDA medics and paramedics were forced to determine her death. The truck driver, a resident of Tira in his 30s, was detained for questioning. Police traffic inspectors at the scene are investigating the circumstances of the accident.
Ido Schiff and Eran Nadler, paramedics on MDA motorcycles, said: “When we arrived at the scene of the accident, we saw the scooter rider trapped under the back of the truck. During the rescue operation, we performed medical tests on her. She suffered a very severe multi-systemic injury and was without signs of life, and unfortunately we have no choice but to determine her death on the spot. “
In another case, a 38-year-old motorcyclist was killed in a fatal car accident on Jabotinsky Street at the corner of Yitzhak Rabin in Petah Tikva. He was taken to Beilinson Hospital in critical condition, where he was pronounced dead.
According to Haim Cohen, an paramedic at MDA: “When we arrived at the scene of the accident, we saw a young man trapped under the front of the truck and after we rescued him quickly, we performed medical tests, he suffered a very severe multi-system injury and was without pulse and without breathing. “Which included massages, resuscitation and medication, we took him to the intensive care unit and evacuated him to the hospital while continuing to perform resuscitation operations, in a critical condition.”
According to the CBS, in 2020, 24 cyclists and electric scooters were killed in road accidents, two more than in 2019 – despite the long closures and the decrease in vehicle traffic due to the corona.
Erez Kita, CEO of the Green Light Association, said: “This is a great disaster and I express my deep sorrow for the rider who was killed in the accident. The trend of riders getting hit on the power tools is growing without the state investing and paving riding trails for them that will separate them from the vehicles and save them from death. The Offenidan project, which is supposed to produce a safe riding trail network for riders, is stuck. The Ministry of Transport and Road Safety is dragging its feet at a time when the trend of casualties and deaths is only growing.
“The world understands that due to the corona and social distance there is a change in transportation patterns and more people are choosing to use power tools. Therefore, safe riding trails are being cleared for them, sometimes at the expense of vehicles,” he noted. “Riders must begin to be considered and build for them a good and especially safer riding infrastructure, to prevent the next death.”