The year 2025 is shaping up to be the deadliest year in road accidents in over 18 years. According to data from the National Road Safety Authority, by the end of September, 352 people had been killed this year, an average of more than 39 per month, and only nine deaths short of the number of fatalities in the entire year 2023, in which 361 people were killed.
The last three months, July, August and September, have been marked by a sharp increase in the number of fatalities. In September, about 42 people were killed, compared to 36 in September 2024 and only 27 in September 2023. In August, 38 people were killed, compared to 33 in August last year, and in July, a particularly unusual figure of 49 deaths was recorded, compared to 31 in July 2024.
A total of 129 people were killed last summer (July-September 2024), an increase of almost a third compared to the same period last year (100 deaths) and more than 50% compared to 2023 (85 deaths). 2024 was considered the deadliest in road accidents for many years, with over 439 deaths and dozens of injuries, an average of about 36.5 deaths per month.
Despite the warnings of the National Road Safety Authority, the resignation of the chairman of the Road Safety Subcommittee in the Knesset, and two urgent discussions in the Economics Committee, no significant steps were taken to change the situation. The National Road Safety Chairman and retired Major General Yoram Halevy, warned at the end of 2024, “We’ll reach a point where not exceeding 500 deaths will be called a success.”
According to the National Road Safety Authority, among those killed this year are approximately 12 motorcycle and scooter riders, 13 pedestrians, seven passengers in private vehicles, three riders of micro-transport vehicles (electric bicycles or electric scooters), and one cyclist.
