Miri Regev's unfulfilled promises: Eight transportation reforms that never happened

OCTOBER 25, 2026 13:12Updated: OCTOBER 25, 2026 13:13Miri Regev returned to the Transportation and Road Safety Ministry on December 29, 2022, and her second term has so far failed to reduce road-accident fatalities.In 2024 and 2025, road deaths hit a two-decade high, and 2026 shows no sign of change except a slight decline, driven only by a sharp drop in March, when the country was in shelters and safe rooms during Operation Roaring Lion.Evidence of the minister’s major failure came from the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC). At the end of 2025, the council announced it was suspending Israel over government measures that, the organization said, were incompatible with its basic commitment to saving lives. The organization formally ended Israel’s participation in its Road Safety Performance Index (PIN) program, with no clear path back.The ETSC decided to suspend Israel’s National Road Safety Authority (RSA) from the program until further notice: “The recent actions of the current Israeli government are not consistent with the fundamental commitment of ETSC and the PIN program to protecting human life.”Israel’s Transportation Ministry claimed the move was political, but the surge in the number of people killed and injured on Israel’s roads, in contrast to most European countries, Regev’s lack of interest in road safety, and the departure of key figures in the field, such as Avi Naor, who served as chairman of the RSA, and Erez Kita, who served as the authority’s director general, suggest otherwise.Despite the poor results and scant action, the transportation and road safety minister delivered a stream of media statements meant to benefit Israel’s citizens and the road safety community. A comprehensive check by Walla Cars and the Or Yarok road safety association reveals the minister's main statements and promises during her term, and how much of them were carried out.Israel Police officers respond to a car crash on Highway 6, September 29, 2026. (credit: ISRAEL POLICE)Ride-sharing in Israel: Didn’t happen“Uber will be in Israel. Period.”That was Regev’s reply on October 22, 2025, to a parliamentary question from MK Eitan Ginzburg on advancing shared transportation.The approval was meant to allow private drivers to carry paying passengers in their own cars, aiming to increase competition in the passenger transport market and lower prices for consumers. The bill initiated by Ginzburg (Blue and White, Beyachad) passed a preliminary reading in the Knesset and even a first reading, but went no further.As of October 2026, ride-sharing is not legal in Israel, but the Transportation Ministry rarely acts against private drivers who pick up paying passengers, mainly in the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community, where they are known as “drivers.”They are not subject to the high insurance costs and licensing fees charged to legal cab drivers, or to the other regulatory requirements the state imposes on official taxis, such as buying a “green number” taxi license for more than 200,000 shekels, or leasing one.Higher fines for a range of offenses, especially cellphone use: Didn’t happenRegev supplied the quote and announced the move at the Yedioth Ahronoth transportation conference: “Police will catch someone texting, and they’ll immediately give him a 10,000-shekel fine the first time. He won’t go to court. The second time, it will be confiscation of the vehicle.” On December 2, 2025, the minister declared on her Facebook account and on X that she would raise the fines.As of October 2026, the stiffer fines have not yet materialized.Scrapping the internal driving test: Didn’t happenIn another attempt to present itself as fighting the cost of living, the Transportation Ministry promoted abolishing the internal test, which pre-test driving instructors administer before the official exam and costs learners and their parents between 150 and 400 shekels. The move was even formally included in the 2026 state budget agreements, and an official circular stated that the abolition would take effect on June 18, 2026.The move was never completed because of protests by driving instructors and technical problems and failures, leading the ministry to announce, just one day before implementation, that it had decided to postpone the amendment’s entry into force for an in-depth reexamination.No new date was set.Approval for Tesla full self-driving: Didn’t happenRegev addressed the issue after Tesla drivers in Israel submitted a petition, posting the following on her official accounts. On October 29, 2025, she wrote on her Facebook page and on X: “I’ve received the many appeals from Tesla drivers in Israel! Tesla drivers? Soon you won’t have to hold the wheel.”In a conversation with Tesla CEO Elon Musk at the Smart Mobility conference, Regev also promised to speed up approval in Israel for FSD and equivalent systems from other carmakers.Since then, a long list of European countries, from the Netherlands to Belgium, Denmark and the Czech Republic, have approved its use. But in Israel, the Transportation Ministry has not yet updated the regulation requiring drivers to keep their hands on the wheel throughout the drive, nor has it worked with the Commissioner of Insurance to settle liability for an accident that occurs while the vehicle is in autonomous mode.Elon Musk. (credit: REUTERS)Multi-year national road safety plan for 2026–2030: Didn’t happenGovernment Resolution 3491 of November 16, 2025, states that “with the aim of reducing the rate of road accident casualties, reducing the economic damage caused by road accidents and strengthening the government’s commitment to improving road safety,” the government approved a multi-year national road safety plan for 2026–2030.Under the plan, the rate of road accident casualties is to be cut by 25% within five years of the resolution’s approval and funding, compared with the 2021–2025 average, a lower target than had been set in the past. The ministry also set a goal for Israel to rank among the seven leading countries in road safety, measured by casualties relative to population size.On December 14, 2025, the ministry declared: “Stopping the carnage on the roads: 350 million shekels a year have been budgeted for saving lives and restoring road safety in Israel. The most dramatic road safety move in a decade: a comprehensive, budgeted and measurable national plan will get underway as early as 2026.”“We are launching a dramatic national move to save lives. This is a significant moment of taking national responsibility, in which the State of Israel is changing direction and putting the safety of road users at the top of its priorities,” Regev boasted in a press release at the time. “After years in which road safety received no systemic, comprehensive response, we are bringing a comprehensive, budgeted and focused plan to save lives, which means fewer families receiving the terrible news at the door. The state is taking responsibility.”As of October 2026, the money has not been transferred to fund the plan.Fewer required driving lessons: Didn’t happenIn August 2024, Regev proposed a new procedure that would dramatically reduce the minimum number of driving lessons required before taking the road test, from 28 lessons to just 22 for automatic vehicles, to lower the cost of getting a driver’s license.Or Yarok opposed it, as did the ETSC, which issued a formal warning that cutting initial training would harm the safety of young drivers, who are defined as a high-risk group. Professionals at the RSA, to whom the initiative was referred to assess its implications, also objected.The move never went ahead.Annual vehicle inspections at garages: Didn’t happenOn June 6, 2023, the minister posted on her page on X (formerly Twitter): “ONE STOP SHOP – who doesn’t know the hassle when it’s time for the annual vehicle inspection. You clear half a day, if not more, going to a licensed testing center; if the car fails, you drive to a garage to fix the faults, then back to the center, and so on. Wasting time, fuel, workdays, and more.“I have instructed the relevant parties in my ministry to put an end to this, and they are now working on it, setting professional standards, with supervision and oversight and preserving the safety and consumer aspects, so that licensed garages will be qualified to carry out the annual vehicle inspection. Quickly and efficiently, and all this as part of my plan to fight the cost of living in Israel.”The following day, the ministry released a statement reading: “This is a historic move that will significantly shorten the long lines and reduce the load on testing centers, encourage inspections to be carried out on time, accessibly and close to drivers’ homes or workplaces, alongside lower costs as part of the fight against the cost of living in Israel.”Regev claimed the move was based on a professional opinion that she refused to disclose, and ignored the fact that the law had once allowed inspections at garages but was changed because of the garages’ conflict of interest: a single body that looks for faults in a vehicle on behalf of the state and can immediately offer to fix them for the customer on the premises.Such an arrangement could also lead to vehicles that are not fully roadworthy being approved in return for the customer having other, non-safety maintenance work done there.As of October 2026, the plan is stuck in the legislative process and under review by professional staff. Drivers in Israel must still go in person to official licensed testing centers for the annual inspection.Shorter waits for medical exams: Didn’t happenRegev pledged to shorten long waiting times at the Medical Institute for Road Safety (MIRS) by outsourcing the institute’s services and decentralizing its powers to private bodies.As of October 2026, the move has not been completed, and the institute still operates at a sluggish pace, to the detriment of tens of thousands of drivers a year whose licenses are revoked on medical grounds and who are forced to wait months for an examination at the only institute authorized to restore their licenses.Minister of Transportation Miri Regev speaks at the Muni Expo 2026 conference in Tel Aviv, on June 23, 2026. (credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI/FLASH90)Ministerial committee on road safety: Met three times in two yearsOn November 24, 2024, Regev announced the formation of a ministerial committee on road safety. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was appointed chairman, and the committee includes the government’s most senior ministers.The committee held its first meeting on May 4, 2025, about six months after the government announced its establishment. The second was held on October 26, 2025, and the third on February 8, 2026.Netanyahu did not attend a single session.The committee’s deliberations led to no significant road-safety decisions.Attorney Yaniv Yaakov, CEO of Or Yarok: “The Israeli public deserves a road safety minister who understands the weight of the responsibility and the purpose for which he works every day — to save lives. Minister Regev made many promises, but at the end of her term, only a small portion of them served road safety, as the grim figures also show. The minister’s biggest failure is her refusal to approve a multi-year national plan, even though she requested it and it already exists."The wrong priorities have led us to the worst figures in two decades and to our removal from the European Transport Safety Council’s annual performance report. Inaction costs human lives. The next transportation and road safety minister will have to change the priorities and put saving lives first. That is his duty and his privilege.”Follow us on Google