Arab children are twice as likely as Jewish children to be injured in bicycle, electric bike, and horse-related accidents. At Rambam, staff took the initiative and organized a dedicated awareness day to promote safe riding habits among Arab high school students.
Alarmed by rising injury rates among Arab teens riding bicycles, electric bikes, scooters, and even horses, a coalition of community leaders, healthcare professionals, and safety advocates joined forces and took action. Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa and Beterem – Safe Kids Israel collaborated to organize a first-of-its-kind safety awareness conference for high school students from Northern Israel.
Titled "Riding Toward a Safer Future," the conference was spearheaded by Latifa Kabat-Mansour, a nurse in Rambam’s Wagner Green Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, and her sister Nayrouz Kabat, head of Community Security in Majd al-Krum. This initiative brought together Rambam’s Cheryl Spencer Department of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, students from Majd al-Krum, and national safety organizations to address the growing public health concern.
Conference data revealed that although Arab children comprise approximately 25% of Israel’s population, they account for more than half of pediatric road fatalities. In the past five years, 246 children in Israel lost their lives in traffic-related accidents—56% of them from the Arab sector. In 2024 alone, Rambam treated nearly equal numbers of Jewish and Arab children injured in bicycle accidents (46 and 47, respectively). However, the gap widened when it came to electric bikes: 19 Arab children were injured compared to 9 Jewish children.
Horse-related injuries, while less common overall, pose a distinct risk in the Arab community. Between 2008 and 2025, Rambam documented over 200 cases of pediatric trauma involving horses—nearly 60% of which involved Arab children. The most common causes were falls, kicks, and bites.
Seventy high school students from two schools in Majd al-Krum attended the event, where they engaged in lectures and hands-on demonstrations led by Rambam’s top pediatric specialists. Speakers included Professor Danny Eytan, director of the Wagner Green Pediatric Intensive Care Unit; Liora Utitz, director of nursing in the Children’s Division & Mass Casualty Coordinator; and Professor Mony Benifla, director of Pediatric Neurosurgery, who addressed the short- and long-term effects of head trauma in children. Students also learned first aid skills from ICU nurse Shireen Hawash. Additional talks gave the students a deeper understanding of traffic laws and injury prevention strategies.
“This is more than a public health issue—it’s a matter of equity, education, and awareness,” says Professor Eytan. “We see the consequences of unsafe riding every week in our emergency rooms. By reaching these students today, we hope to prevent the tragedies of tomorrow.”
Rambam’s investment in preventive care lays the groundwork for safer communities—protecting children through education and outreach long before accidents occur.
