6 people were injured in a crash on Highway 505 near Ma'ale Efrayim just before 10:00 PM Saturday night, just a day after an accident on the same highway led to the critical injuring of a 24 year old woman and to the injury of three others. On Friday, at least eight people were seriously injured in five different accidents in a span of three hours, in what appeared to be one of this year's deadliest days on the road.
The first, a head-on collision, occurred at around 3:30 p.m. on road 784 between the town of Kaukab Abu al-Hija and Morasha Junction in the Lower Galilee. Four women, probably belonging to the same family, were seriously injured and evacuated to Rambam hospital in Haifa.
At roughly the same time, another crash was reported in Samaria on Highway 505, the site of the crash a day later. This accident happened between the Tapuach Junction and the town of Migdalim. Another four people were injured in the crash, with a 24-year-old woman in severe condition.
An hour later, a man and woman aged 40 and 35 were seriously injured and their two infant daughters moderately wounded when the car they were driving in flipped over in the Kiryat Gat region. The man was evacuated by helicopter to Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital in Jerusalem.
At 6:20 p.m. police reported that a self-inflicted accident occurred in a neighborhood designated for released soldiers in the Western Galilee town of Kisra-Sumei. According to the report, a 17-year-old was seriously injured and his two brothers, aged 24 and 12, were also hurt. All three were evacuated to the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya.
The bloody afternoon comes as data shows that the number of casualties so far in 2021 is projected to surpass 2019 (in 2020, there was a significant decrease due to reduced driving during the coronavirus lockdowns). Despite consistent efforts to reduce traffic-related casualties, some 197 people have died so far this year, compared to 177 on this date in 2019.