Israeli parking lot mishaps

Photo via Yedioth Ahronoth

Maybe it’s the stress of living in the Middle East, but Israelis can be bad drivers at times.

One of the first jokes an Israeli told me went like this:

Q: What do traffic lights mean in Israel?

Green means ‘go,’ yellow means ‘go faster,’ red means ‘make a short stop and pick your nose.’

Unfortunately, anyone who has ever driven from Tel Aviv to Eilat knows the joke happens to be true.

Which brings us to this… ladies and gentlemen, I give you the worst driver in the Middle East. The incident took place on the outskirts of the Israeli city of Raanana. An unnamed driver allegedly ‘confused his gas pedal with the brake’ and managed to park his SUV… on top of another car (pictured). According to Israeli paper Yedioth Ahronoth:

Fortunately, the vehicle hit by the jeep was empty at the time of the accident. The jeep’s driver managed to get out of the vehicle unharmed and called for help.

“It was a very strange and unclear sight,” Ben Blumenthal, who works nearby, told Ynet. “We suddenly heard a loud noise and all the employees ran up to the windows to see what happened outside. We then noticed the jeep parked on top of the Renault. This is not the type of thing one sees every day.”

Blumenthal said many onlookers gathered at the site in order to ensure nobody was trapped in the vehicles. Once it was confirmed that no one was injured in the accident, employees were mostly busy photographing the two cars.

Eventually, police came to the scene; a crane later lifted the SUV off of the poor man’s vehicle.

But take a look at the picture. The poor schlub on the bottom whose car was crushed… it is a rental car from Avis. We bet his insurance policy won’t cover acts of being-crushed-by-a-SUV.

No idea either how, in the name of a merciful God, the SUV driver ever got his license.

For less dramatic but equally funny examples of Israeli parking, here are some pictures of bad Jerusalem drivers.