Is there systemic anti-Arab discrimination in place in Israel? If there is, it can’t be that effective, because, frankly, the gaps among the various population groups are just not so great, on average. But here’s another set of statistics, also found on the CBS website, convictions of motorists in the years 2006-8, broken down by religious groups.
In 2008, 18% of licensed Jewish drivers were convicted for 1.3 violations per convicted driver on average, compared with 29% of licensed Arabs, who were convicted of 1.6 violations per convicted driver. By the way, when it came to women, Jews and Arabs were about the same: 12% of licensed female drivers in each groups were convicted of 1.2 violations per convicted driver on average.
Of the Arab figures, 44% of Bedouin licensed drivers were convicted, each with 1.9 violations. And 55.8% of them drove heavy vehicles, such as cargo trucks.
The next four locales that scored significantly higher than the rest of the country were also Arab, from 29.6% to 36.5% of all drivers.
The communities with the lowest rate of driving convictions were Kfar Saba, Ra’anana, Kokhav Ya’ir, Kiryat Tivon, and Zichron Ya’akov.