Electric scooter injuries jumped 152% in 2019 alone

Electric scooter-related injuries on Israel's roads jumped by some 152.3% in 2019 compared to the previous year, an annual road accidents report published by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) on Wednesday revealed.

A total of 598 injuries from accidents involving electric scooters were reported to the police, including two fatalities, compared to 237 accidents and one fatality in 2018, the CBS said.

In addition, a further 209 individuals were hospitalized with electric scooter-related injuries from accidents that were not reported to the police – a staggering 430% increase compared to 49 such injuries the previous year.

Meanwhile, the number of reported injuries from accidents involving electric bicycles decreased by 10.5% to a total of 1,776 individuals, including 18 fatalities, compared to 1,984 accidents and 19 fatalities in 2018. A similar decrease (10.9%) was noted too in hospitalizations that were not reported to the police, falling from 568 injuries in 2018 to 506 last year.

Overall, the police received reports of 12,670 road accidents with casualties in 2019, marking an increase of 0.9% compared to the previous year. Despite the modest increase, both the death toll and number of serious injuries climbed significantly.
In total, 355 individuals were killed on Israel's roads, a 12.3% increase compared to 316 deaths in 2018. An increase of 10.5% was noted in the number of severe injuries.

Among all road accidents resulting in casualties, the CBS said, 72.8% involved men and only 27.2% involved women, despite men only representing 55.7% of all licensed drivers.

Providing cause for concern for policymakers, a major increase in road accident fatalities was recorded among Israel's Arab population. The annual death toll among Arab citizens jumped by 21.5% to 113 fatalities, compared to 93 in 2018. The death toll among Israel's Jewish population increased by 1.5%, from 200 to 203 fatalities.

Overall, 31.8% of all deaths and 29.6% of injuries on Israel's roads involved Arab citizens, despite representing only 21% of the wider population.