The parents and brother of the late Maayan Domanovich, who was killed in a serious accident in the south on Independence Day, are dealing with the great pain of loss in the days after his funeral, as well as the injuries they themselves caused in the terrible incident.
This week there was an improvement in the condition of father Elia and son Uri, who were seriously injured in the accident and are being hospitalized at Soroka Hospital in Be’er Sheva. Alia woke up and communicates with his environment. Now, after it has been determined that he is out of danger, he will soon be transferred to the orthopedic department for further treatment of the injury to the spine and limbs. His wife Ila, who was moderately injured and is undergoing rehabilitation, arrived yesterday at the intensive care unit together with members of the immediate family, the medical staff and a social worker to inform him that their son Maayan was killed in an accident.
With the sadness and pain there was also a small comfort: Maayan’s heart valves, which were donated to the tissue bank at the Sheba Hospital, will be able to save two other babies.
Their eldest son Uri (8), who suffers from a head injury, also woke up from the anesthesia, and is beginning the first steps of rehabilitation. He recognizes his surroundings, yesterday he wrote his name, and yesterday he drew a picture for his father and even managed to say a few words. “The family would like to thank the angels from Soroka Hospital again, who are doing everything for our recovery,” the family members said. The two young sons, Neta (6) and Shahar (4), were released from the hospital already last week.
The driver of the car that collided with the Domanovich family, Yana Blum, 25 years old from Rishon Lezion, was also seriously injured. She is suspected of reckless homicide and driving while intoxicated and under the influence of drugs. This is not the first time she has been arrested on suspicion of such crimes. In her investigation she said that she does not remember the details of the accident.
According to data from the Green Green Association, driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol causes the death of approximately nine Israelis per year and 31 serious injuries. In addition to this, seventy Israelis who drive under the influence of drugs and alcohol are injured each year, and they injure an average of 407 people.
The minimum punishment today for drunk driving is a license suspension for two years and ten mandatory points. According to the law, an intoxicated person is defined as someone whose alcohol test has detected alcohol in a concentration higher than 240 micrograms per liter of air, or over 50 micrograms per 100 milliliters (0.05 percent) in a blood test. As for young drivers and new drivers, the rules are stricter: they are defined as drunk if their body contains alcohol in a concentration exceeding 10 micrograms of alcohol in 100 milliliters of blood (0.01 percent), or 50 micrograms of alcohol in a liter of air in an owl test.
In the opinion of attorney Eli Enoushi, a retired traffic judge who currently represents clients in the traffic sector, the phenomenon of drunk driving is quite common: “We only know about those who are caught,” he clarifies, “our situation is better than in other countries, where you can see many drunks on the road , but it still exists.”
According to him, when people drink a bottle of beer or raise a glass, they are not aware that they are actually considered drunk. “People sat together, drank something, and think they’re fine, that they didn’t get drunk from it,” he says, “They don’t sit down to calculate the alcohol level in the drink, the effect of body weight, sugar level, etc., before they get into the car. People don’t know how much They drink, what is the amount allowed by law, what is the punishment.
“Many times people who have already been arrested and tested do not realize that they are facing a punishment that can reach up to two years in prison. Only after they are arrested and hear about the punishment, they are suddenly surprised, and do not understand where it came from. This week I had a guy who was arrested for drunk driving. He did not understand Why did he enter – he was just drinking beer, and didn’t know what it could cause and what the legal effects are. We need information: to explain again and again how dangerous it is, how forbidden it is. Push it to the public.”
According to a human lawyer, since the outbreak of the corona epidemic there has been a decrease in the enforcement of the crime: “The test is done by blowing, and in the days of the epidemic the police were afraid to check people like that. Even after the epidemic, they simply did not return to full enforcement of this offense.”
