Fewer injuries but more deaths from road accidents during the Persian Gulf war

During the period 13 January to 28 February 1991, traffic accidents were the cause of death in 45 persons (31 vehicle and cycle occupants and 14 pedestrians) and of injuries in 2,769 persons (2,309 occupants and 460 pedestrians) in Israel. During the same period 18 persons (13 occupants and 5 pedestrians) died as the result of traffic accidents in the Territories (Judea/Samaria and the Gaza Strip). The decline in the number of injuries among occupants and pedestrians was offset by the increase in the case fatality rate (CFR), particularly among occupants, compared with: a) the previous 6 months, b) the same period of the previous year, a) the ratio of the reduced CFR in January-February in relation to the previous 6 months, and d) the CFR predicted by the declining CFR in January-February of the previous 5 years. Compared with 1990, in 1991 during the Persian Gulf war the roads were less crowded and crash occurrences were less frequent, but travel speeds, crash impacts and kinetic energy delivered to victims (especially occupants on inter-urban roads) were greater. Daytime running lights on two-lane roads; temporary lower speed limits; the use of new roadside monitoring methods for detecting and deterring speeding, tailgating and speedgating; the collection of tachygraph data; and implementation of the requirement for a rear seat belt are measures suggested to have been effective in swiftly reducing the toll of dead and injured, not only during but after the Gulf war as well.