[img]96|left|||no_popup[/img]Dateline Jerusalem —There are two places in the world that I will not drive, New York and Israel.
Perhaps because there are so many New Yorkers in Israel and so many Israelis in New York, their driving habits are similar. Having been a cop before becoming an attorney, I went through “pursuit driving” and all the other classes required by my department when I was in the academy.
In the over 35 years since the department trained me in a myriad of driving maneuvers, I have not had one accident, not one moving violation and not one parking ticket. Not bad. However, nowadays I must admit that I drive like a grandmother and not like the young girl who once owned a sports car.
One of my observations as a passenger in a bus or car here in Israel, is that drivers tend to straddle two lanes.
It is as though it were a game. It prevents cars from passing them on either the right or the left. When a car does drive inside its own lane, then others tailgate behind it to prevent anyone from the next lane getting in. I know someone who boasts that he speeds up when he sees a car signaling to move to his lane. Then he laughs and says the “Israeli drivers do not know how to play the game.”
I used to think Israeli drivers were rude. But I am beginning to think that the rudest drivers come from everywhere in the world, and they just congregate here in Israel.
I have seen cars driving over islands in the road and onto sidewalks. I guess if a pedestrian could run across a busy freeway with a gas can in hand because the gas stations are few and far between, then a car could drive onto a sidewalk or park on one.
If a family owns a car here, then usually husband and wife share it. She or he drives the other to work and stops on the sidewalk to switch drivers or let the other off at the office. Since speaking on a cell phone while driving is illegal, when someone does not have a speaker phone in the car (and most don't), that person pulls to the side of the road onto the sidewalk to speak. As for parking on the sidewalk, that is to enable the buses to travel down the very narrow streets.
Actually, I have the utmost respect for the bus drivers in Israel.
So Close to the Edge
Not only do they face the possibility of terror on a daily basis from Palestinian suicide bombers or from Arab construction workers using tractors to push the buses onto their sides, but they have great skill in driving the buses. Some of the older neighborhood streets are so narrow, buses running in opposite directions often pass within inches of each other. I could literally put my hand out the window and touch the hand of someone in another bus.
The other night I was traveling home, and the bus was descending the winding roads of Jerusalem. We were in the right lane and the bus was riding the edge of the cliffs. An inch or two more to the right and we would have fallen down the steep mountainside. It is times like this that I really appreciate the Israeli bus drivers. They whip those giant buses around like they were little sports cars.
Once I saw a golf cart driving down the freeway here. As I have often said, anything goes here in Israel. Needless to say, top speed for a golf cart is snail pace for a car. I have also seen golf carts traveling on the sidewalks here. Perhaps because there are so few golf courses, golf carts are used as a means of transportation. I often walk down the middle of the street because it is safer. The other day when I walked on the sidewalk instead of in the street, I fell, bruising my hands and knees, scraping my knuckles, and nose. It was a good thing that a passerby found my shoe.
From Driver to Defenseless Passenger
The other morning I saw a policeman sitting in his patrol vehicle with a radar gun in his hand. When traffic is not bad, then speed becomes the game. This is the first I saw an actual person checking speed. Usually speed is recorded by cameras along the road, and 6 months to a year later the driver receives a ticket for speeding. It is hard to fight a ticket so many months later and especially when the entire thing is on film. Usually there are many police cars on the road with their blue lights always flashing as they drive down the highways and streets. Their lights are flashing to inform citizens that they are around in case someone is in need of a policeman. Here, they make their presence known to everyone.
A taxi is a “monit” and a shared taxi, which is like a minibus that goes up and down the main thoroughfares collecting passengers to take from city to city, is called a “sherut.” Don't confuse that with the term “sherutim,” which means toilet (bathroom). Tips for taxi drivers are non-existent. That is because most negotiate a price to go from place to place as opposed to putting on the meter. The meter means they have to share the fare with their boss or pay taxes. The negotiated rate can be pocketed. Most taxi drivers prefer the negotiated rate, but if traffic is bad they refuse to do it because it is much more profitable sitting in traffic while the meter is running.
Trains are a great way to travel, but they do not run as often as buses. From Tel Aviv, however, the trains can take you anywhere in the country. The seats are comfortable and there is a little table to write or eat on. They are also safe in that dogs patrol the stations and also travel on board.
No matter what the mode of transportation, things are faster and more efficient than in California. A friend complained of the terrible commute to work and I agreed, but it was less stressful than rush hour traffic to and from the courthouse in downtown Los Angeles. But perhaps that is because I am no longer the driver, just the defenseless passenger.
L'hitraot from this back-seat driver, Shachar
Shachar is the Hebrew name of a California-based attorney and former Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy who moved to Israel 22 months ago.
