Four traffic deaths occur despite new rule

By REBECCA ANNA STOIL
Even as a new regulation meant to crack down on serious driving violations took effect, and two days after the State Comptroller's Report blasting government agencies for the failure to effectively combat deadly collisions, four more people were added to the list of dead and maimed on Israel's roads Thursday. Two people were killed and two seriously injured in collisions in which pedestrians were struck by vehicles. At around 8 a.m., a man apparently left his Skoda Octavia with his keys in the ignition as he went to a nearby ATM at Tel Aviv's Kikar Hamedina. A thief saw the opportunity and began to drive away with the car. When the victim tried to stop the thief, the thief hit him with his own vehicle. The victim was hospitalized at nearby Ihilov Hospital in serious condition. Police were searching for the missing vehicle. Around an hour later, a Renault Cleo driven by an 85-year-old Tel Aviv resident struck and killed Leonid Golman, 33, as he was crossing the street at Mivtza Kadesh Junction in Ramat Gan. Golman, a resident of Petah Tikva, was critically injured in the collision and rushed to Ichilov Hospital, where he died shortly afterwards. In the late morning, an American tourist driving a rental car on Highway 60 between Efrat Junction and Gush Junction struck and seriously injured 70-year-old Bethlehem resident Muhammad Aberjat. Aberjat suffered a serious head injury and was hospitalized in serious but stable condition at the intensive care unit at Hadassah-University Medical Center at Ein Kerem. Traffic police detained the tourist for questioning and were holding his passport until completion of the investigation. In the early afternoon, a pedestrian was struck and killed opposite the police station on the road to Safed. Haviv Maman, a 33-year-old resident of the Galilee city, was fatally injured by a bus while taking a walk. Maman apparently attempted to cross a street at a point not marked for pedestrian traffic. MDA teams tried to resuscitate him at the scene, but he died less than an hour later. Judy Siegel contributed to this report.