The study of road accidents helps reduce the number of accidents and the damage caused by this terrible phenomenon. But the accidents data can teach us other things as well. We tried to estimate the origin of people commuting to Jerusalem, by examining all the casualties in road accidents that occurred in the city in the last decade (2008-2017), broken down by the locality of residence of the injured person. For each locality of residence, we examined which percentage of the residents of the locality who were injured in accidents in all the locales in Israel were injured in accidents that occurred in Jerusalem. This figure indicates the percentage of residents who come to Jerusalem from the same locality.
The locales with the highest percentages are those adjacant to the city to the east, south and north. For example, 82% of Ma’aleh Adumim residents were injured in accidents in Jerusalem. Similar rates were recorded for Beitar Illit (81%), Givat Ze’ev (78%) and Efrat (75%). For these locales, Jerusalem is a major center because of their geographical location, and possibly also because of the nature of the population (for example, Ultra-orthodox population that comes to the city on holidays)
In locales located west of Jerusalem, the percentages are lower. This group includes, for example, Zur Hadassah (68%), Modi’in Illit (51%) and Mevasseret Zion (47%). These locales are connected to the city, but a higher percentage of their residents visit other locales, such as for employment, recreation, shopping, etc. It is interesting to note that the percentage in Mevasseret is significantly lower than that of Zur Hadassah. This may be explained by the location of Mevasseret on the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv axis, with good access to both cities, in contrast to Zur Hadassah.
There are activities for which people travel to the city during the day, such as employment or shopping, and there are activities related to reaching the city in the evening or at night, such as entertainment. It appears that for some of the locales, the percentage during the day was significantly different from the one at night (after sunset). The largest difference was found in Har Adar, where the percentage was 50% during the day, compared with only 10% at night. It seems that the residents of that community arrive in Jerusalem much more during the day, while in the evening they travel more to other places. Opposite examples include Modi’in Illit (43 percent at daytime and 58 percent at night) or Zur Hadassah (63 percent during the day and 73 percent at night).
This study is one we wish to stop, due to lack of data. Help us and drive carefully.
