Bus driver who caused deadly crash had over 50 traffic violations

Although most were of the technical variety, he also had seven speeding violations and ran a red light several years ago.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Asher Basson, the 76-year-old bus driver who caused the crash Wednesday night that took the lives of five people and injured dozens, had a long history of traffic violations – 51, to be precise.

He was caught speeding seven times according to a Ynet report, although the last incident was some 20 years ago. Channel 12 reported that he was convicted of running a red light in 2016.

For reasons yet unknown, Basson swerved from his lane on Route 89 in the Galilee when driving a youth group from the religious Bnei Akiva movement home from a fun trip in the north. He first hit a van and then a taxi, and the force of the collision flipped the bus over several times, with it finally coming to rest on its side.

Basson was killed, as were four of the five members of the Ben-Eli family who had been in the taxi: the mother, Moran, 12-year-old Dekel, 10-year-old Liam and three-year-old Anael. The father, Reuven, is classified as being in serious but stable condition in Rambam Hospital in Haifa.

Doctors told Ben-Eli of his enormous loss when he regained consciousness Thursday. According to his brother, Ami, “He is in denial. He’s asking all the time whether he can call his wife.” The Ben-Elis had been on the way to a family celebration in the northern town of Hatzor, he told Radio 103FM.

The funeral for the family is at 3 PM.

Out of the dozens of young people on the bus, 23 were taken to Ziv Hospital in Safed. One is in serious condition and the rest are lightly to moderately hurt. Four adults were also admitted with light injuries. An 11-year-old who had intercranial bleeding was transferred to Rambam Hospital by helicopter.

Thirty-three victims were brought Wednesday evening to the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya, five of whom were still hospitalized Thursday in light to moderate condition. Two are teenage counselors and three are ten-year-olds.

One of the counselors, Dvir Neriya, told Ynet News that in the moments before the accident, he felt that the bus was speeding up “in an unusual way,” and that the counselors were already telling their charges to hold on tight before the collision occurred.

When asked if there was anything out of the ordinary beforehand with the way Basson drove, Neriya said that on the way up north, the driver was bothered by the noise and singing of the children and sometimes broke suddenly or speeded up suddenly in order to quiet them down when they didn’t listen to his admonishments.

The bus passengers were not wearing their seatbelts, as far as Neriya knew, which the interviewer pointed out was the responsibility of the bus driver.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett sent his condolences Wednesday night after arriving back from his trip to the United States.

“The heart breaks in light of the images from the difficult crash in the Upper Galilee,” he tweeted. “The people of Israel are praying for the recovery of the victims. I ask the Israeli public to exercise extra caution to drive safely and carefully.”

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