Legal drivers

The percentage of licensed drivers in a particular locality or city is clearly linked to its socioeconomic status.

By MICHAL KORACH
Licensed drivers 250 (photo credit: Courtesy )
Licensed drivers 250
(photo credit: Courtesy )
Driving age in Israel is 17 for a private vehicle and 16 for a motorized scooter. In 2008, 3.36 million Israelis had a driver’s license, of whom 42 percent were female.
The percentage of licensed drivers in a particular locality or city is clearly linked to its socioeconomic status. The highest percentages of licensed drivers (among persons aged 18 or older) were recorded in Kochav Yair, Shoham, Tel Mond, Even Yehuda, Ra’anana and Modi’in-Maccabim-Re’ut, all of which were in the 90-97% range. (The list excludes localities with fewer than 10,000 residents.)
Conversely, the lowest rates of licensed drivers were found in Arab areas Hura, Kuseifa and Jisr e-Zarka, as well as in the haredi localities Modi’in Illit, Bnei Brak and Betar Illit, all of which were in the 23-36% range. One must also keep in mind that the relatively low rates of licensed drivers among these two populations is a consequence of social and cultural attitudes and norms, as well as socioeconomic factors.
In Jerusalem, 54% of the adult population holds a driver’s license. As can be seen in the diagram below, the percentage of licensed drivers in Jerusalem is below the rates found in the localities inhabiting Jerusalem’s metropolitan region, excluding the ultra-Orthodox areas.
When the numbers are broken down according to license type, they reveal that the highest percentages of commercial driver’s license holders (for driving a truck) are found in Arab localities. In Kuseifa and Arara, between 66% and 67% of licensed drivers had a commercial driver’s license, and in Rahat, Hura, Tel Sheva and Jisr e- Zarka, between 45% and 54% of licensed drivers had a commercial driver’s license.
The number of motorcycle or moped driver’s license holders was highest in Tel Aviv-Jaffa at 25%, immediately followed by Eilat at 24%. The numbers were also high throughout the metropolitan Tel Aviv area, ranging between 20-24% in Givatayim, Ramat Gan, Azor, Yehud, Ramat Hasharon and Kiryat Ono.
www.jiis.org