A senior speech therapist doctor was arrested on Monday for driving under the influence of alcohol, with a bottle of vodka in his glove compartment.
“I was at the home of a good friend of mine, who is terminally ill. I drank there and was on my way home,” the doctor told Walla. “I didn’t think I was drunk. I was sure I could drive and that I was fine.”
The doctor was pulled over in central Tel Aviv on suspicion of drunk driving, when a breathalyzer test found an unusually high level of 1,066 micrograms of alcohol per liter of exhaled air in his body.
The arrest was carried out as part of the nationwide enforcement operation “Committed to Life”, led by the Traffic Department and the National Road Safety Authority, as part of efforts to curb deadly road accidents. Traffic police officers from the Lev Tel Aviv station and officers from the Traffic Department in the Yarkon area stopped the driver after he committed serious traffic violations in the city center.
During the check, the suspect had difficulty communicating with officers, a strong smell of alcohol emanated from his mouth, and a bottle of alcohol was found in his vehicle, hidden in the glove compartment. The driver refused to cooperate at the scene and was arrested on the spot.
Police noted that this was a dangerous level of alcohol, which could pose a real risk to the driver and to other road users.
Road fatalities are increasing in 2025
The case adds to particularly alarming figures. The year 2025 is shaping up as one of the most difficult and deadly years on Israel’s roads in recent decades. According to data from the Or Yarok association, based on figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics and the National Road Safety Authority, 452 people have been killed on the roads since the beginning of the year, compared to 430 in the same period last year, an increase of 5%. At the same time, a 9% rise was recorded in the number of fatal accidents, with 431 accidents in 2025 compared to 397 in 2024.
The data show that 32% of those killed are citizens from the Arab sector, 27% are motorcycle and scooter riders, and 27% are pedestrians. One hundred of the fatalities are senior citizens, and 97 are young people aged 15 to 24. Over half (59%) of the fatalities were recorded on intercity roads.
The suspect, a 54-year-old resident of Ashdod, was questioned and appeared for a hearing before a traffic investigation officer in the Tel Aviv District. At the end of the process, his driver’s license was suspended, his vehicle was seized, and he was placed under house arrest until January 1. A hearing in his case is expected to take place this coming Thursday.