JERUSALEM, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Israel has launched a five-year national plan to improve the country's road safety, according to a statement released by the Ministry of Transport and Road Safety on Monday.
The plan, formulated by the National Road Safety Authority, aims to reduce the number of road accident casualties by 50 percent and limit the resulting annual economic damage to 10 billion shekels (2.98 billion U.S. dollars), down from 15.76 billion shekels in 2021, according to the ministry statement.
Along with direct efforts to prevent accidents such as tightening enforcement, the plan will encourage public transport, biking and walking, the statement said.
Ministries and authorities related to transport, infrastructure, enforcement, law, health, education and society will be involved in the plan, it added.
In 2021, 364 people were killed in road accidents in Israel, an increase of 19.3 percent from 305 in 2020, according to data from Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics.
In the first half of 2022, 183 people were killed in road accidents in the country.
