Fatal traffic accidents increase sharply in Israel on the third day after a terrorist attack, and researchers are searching for an explanation.
An 18-month study found no notable change in fatal accidents on the day of an attack or the first or second day after. But fatalities jumped 35 percent on the third day, or a startling 69 percent after a terror attack that killed 10 people or more.
“Why traffic fatalities increase on the third day after a terror attack remains a puzzle,” Guy Stecklov of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and Joshua Goldstein of Princeton University write in their study.
They studied terrorist incidents in Israel from Jan. 1, 2001, to June 22, 2002. During that period there were 63 attacks that killed at least one person.
There was no change in the number of fatal accidents on the first two days after an incident, then an increase on the third day. One possible explanation, the study’s authors say, may be that this time period coincides with people trying to return to their normal routines before they are psychologically ready.
Or, they add, the three-day lag might reflect a counterreaction to the collective bonding that occurs after a terrorist incident.
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Compiled from news services and edited by Patrick Olsen (polsen@tribune.com) and Drew Sottardi (dsottardi@tribune.com)
