Life in Israel: Bet Shemesh tragedy

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Bet Shemesh tragedy

Everyone has already heard of the tragic car accident on the Highway 38 outside of Bet Shemesh on Friday just before shabbos.

The driver, supposedly at fault, was a 20 year old guy. I am told he is the son of the guy who owns the watermelon stand in Bet Shemesh (the watermelon stand) at the corner before Migdal HaMayim.

My thoughts:

1. How the heck does a guy who sells watermelon for a living afford to buy his 20 year old son a brand new BMW??? I am definitely in the wrong line of work!

2. We drove by the scene of the accident this morning on the way to the train. There was not even the slightest sign that anything had happened. No sign of any accident. They cleaned it all up right away. Amazing that something so tragic can happen and just a short while later one can go to the same place and he would never even know about it...

17 comments:

whatsinaname said...: People at work came over to me and asked me about it, and i didn't have many details. People seem to think if you live in the area, you reported to the scene and know all about it. hazards of living here i guess.

Besides that, the news said this morning that they think the driver was driving under the influence of alcohol, and most likely speeding. If that's true, its tragic.

Where on 38 was it exactly?

My wife asked me what she should do if she sees a car come into her lane like the driver did. I didn't have an answer for her, but most likely you wont have time to do anything in such an instance, so i guess ... pray?
Rafi G. said...: I think if you have time to pray you also have time to swerve. Good luck with that.

They suspect alcohol. family denies it. I guess we have to wait for the full report after the blood is tested.
happyduck1979 said...: From what I understand (and this is just from reading various sources) it was near the monestary on the 38.
Rafi G. said...: yes. near "Park HaPlastic" a.k.a. "Eucalyptus Park"
Rafi said...: Rafi not G.

Apparently there is serious suspicion that they were driving under influence. They also hit another car just before the fatal accident. He apparently lost control of the vehicle on one of the bends while driving at excessive speed (while drunk).

The tragedy is that three innocent people in the car they hit were killed. You can be a good driver, you can be responsible, you can do everything right and then some idiot can slam into you and kill you.

I may be naive, but maybe this will help to forward the cause to widen the road at last.
yoni r. said...: As to how the "watermellon guy" bought his son a car, perhaps the kid bought it himself (it happens that children pay their own way.) Or maybe he was just the driver, but the car belonged to someone else (maybe he was the most sober of the bunch and thus the designated driver).
Anonymous said...: there was another accident a few hundred meters up on 38 this morning as well. I saw a car off to the side almost completely crushed with a car seat beside it. From what I see on the news mother and baby seem to have escaped with only minor injuries...welcome to the 3 weeks.
Rafi G. said...: yoni - the paper reported that he had bought it for his son recently.

anon - yes. ynet had an article on it. I think it was near mesillat tzion
ehwhy said...: I was shocked to learn that there is no minimum drinking age in Israel. Hopefully this will be rectified quickly.

I think there needs to be an overhaul of the driving license system. Currently it is very hard (time and cost) to get a license but you end up with a bare minimum of practical experience.

As for the car buying a car, you can buy a fancy brand name old car really cheap.
Rafi G. said...: who told you there is no minimum age? as far as I know the minimum is 18. It is not enforced everywhere, but the law says 18 as far as I know
Anonymous said...: Rafi not G - I may be naive, but maybe this will help to forward the cause to widen the road at last.

They've only been talking about it for 15+ years!

Mark
Anonymous said...: If you want an answer as to how he bought his son such a car, find out how the watermelon guy has been allowed to operate an illegal business all of these years in flagrant violation of the law.

My guess is, that the answer to the second question will help with the first.
Anonymous said...: just noticed that the jpost article says that its illegal to sell alcohol to s/o <18. But its not illegal for a minor to drink alcohol.
Anonymous said...: Rafi G. said...
I think if you have time to pray you also have time to swerve. Good luck with that

would you swerve to the left or to the right?

To the right(the normal reaction) puts you the driver at greater risk of absorbing the crash while to the left can turn it into more of a head-on collision but if you have have a seat belt and airbags you might be better off while the swerving driver might get it worse.

i was actually wondering about his on my way back from yerushalayim yesterday.
Rafi G. said...: I sometimes wonder about that too. I think when it comes down to it, you are going to swerve whichever way your first instinct tells you to... you are right though - I sometimes look at what a swerve to the right would do and it often looks worse.
sheri said...: Forget about watermelons.What is the real tragedy?
sheri said...: Sheri says: The tragedy is that in a community such as Beit Shemesh, such so called accidents or drowning should never happen.
Several years ago our community was devistated by several accidents that resulted in deaths of some of our dear ones.
Our Rov found that our community was deficent in several ways, and got us all to work together to correct our mistakes.
Are all of the residents of Beit Shemesh working together or sometimes fighting among themselves?

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Bet Shemesh tragedy

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