Tirat Hacarmel officials blame each other for beach accident

A Swedish woman was run over and severely injured by a four-wheel-drive vehicle on Hakshatot Beach.

By MIRIAM BULWAR DAVID-HAY (TRANSLATED)
beach 88 (photo credit: )
beach 88
(photo credit: )
Police and municipal officials in Tirat Hacarmel are blaming each other for an accident in which a Swedish woman was run over and severely injured by a four-wheel-drive vehicle on Hakshatot Beach recently, reports Yediot Haifa. Police said the city should be sending more inspectors to stop vehicles from driving onto beaches, while city officials said it was the police's job to stop criminals from gaining access to the beaches. According to the report, the woman was lying on the beach when she was hit by a vehicle traveling at high speed. The driver reportedly panicked when he realized he had struck something and accidentally placed his vehicle in reverse, running over the woman for a second time. Doctors who arrived at the scene said the woman's spine and other bones had been broken in several places, and it was only the soft sand in which she was lying that had saved her from even more serious injuries. A Tirat Hacarmel police official said his jurisdiction covered 11 kilometers of open beaches and it was "impossible to place a policeman in every kilometer." He said his force had two teams that patrolled the beaches every weekend and tried to stop vehicles from driving onto them, but this was clearly insufficient. "Police cannot provide an answer for these things; that is the job of the city," the official said. "Unfortunately, the local authorities are not prepared." But Tirat Hacarmel Mayor Aryeh Fahrjoun said it was the job of police to stop criminals from entering the beaches, and that police needed to re-examine the best ways to deal with the problem. He said he had sent a letter to local police asking them to increase their enforcement efforts. Fahrjoun said that while he was doing his best, Tirat HaCarmel was only a small city and did not have its own parking or beach departments, meaning it could not issue fines to drivers on beaches. The report pointed out that the Knesset recently approved the preliminary reading of a bill that would increase the penalty for driving onto a beach to up to six months' imprisonment. The bill would also prohibit the riding of horses and donkeys at swimming beaches.