Two killed in weekend car accidents; tall bus injures 20

The bus apparently exceeded the height restriction when attempting to cross the bridge.

By ABE SELIG
car crash 88 224 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
car crash 88 224
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
Accidents over the weekend claimed two lives, including a man who stopped to change a tire on Route 1 near Lod. He was struck and killed by a passing car whose driver did not see him. "The driver stopped, called the police, and the man was pronounced dead on the scene," an officer from the police's Central District Traffic Unit said. "At this point, the driver's account has proven accurate," the officer continued. "He didn't see the man on the road, and we're looking at this as an accident. However, the investigation is ongoing, and no names have been released." In Haifa, 20 people were lightly injured and one man was moderately injured when a bus carrying tourists collided with a metal beam at the Henkin Bridge on Saturday evening. The bus apparently exceeded the height restriction when attempting to cross the bridge. Four Magen David Adom and firefighter units were dispatched, and the victims were taken to area hospitals. They were expected to be released later Saturday night. The passengers were trapped in the bus for a short while and then extracted by rescue forces. Fearing the bridge might collapse on the bus, rescue forces erected temporary supports to support the structure. While the circumstances of the accident were still unclear, police said, it appeared to be a case of driver error. "The bus driver really has no choice but to pay attention to these sorts of things," a spokesman for the Haifa Police Traffic Unit told The Jerusalem Post. "He's a professional driver, and the height restrictions are quite clear. Why he didn't notice the beam before they hit it, I don't know. We're looking into that now." Earlier on Saturday, a nine-year-old boy's leg was badly cut by a barbed wire fence in Gush Tel Mond while he was playing in Hatziporim Park. MDA paramedics rushed the boy to Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba, where his condition was listed as good. On Thursday night, a 19-year-old from Kiryat Shmona was killed and another man was seriously injured when their car overturned on Route 90, near the Yesud Hama'ala junction in the Upper Galilee. MDA teams pronounced the 19-year-old dead at the scene and evacuated the injured man to Ziv Hospital in Safed. Police opened an investigation to determine what caused the car to overturn. Also on Thursday night, a man was seriously injured and another was moderately hurt in a head-on collision near Kiryat Ata. An MDA intensive care unit evacuated the casualties, both men in their 40s, to Rambam Medical Center in Haifa. JPost.com staff contributed to this report