lizrael update » radio

Radio scare tactics work.

elie — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 06:56:23 +0000

If you’re an Israel driver who listens to the radio in the car – like me – you’ll have noticed about 246247856 times over that there are these commercials from the Ministry of Transportation. A guy is calmly describing nice and pleasant things that you may be thinking about at this moment, and then this scary pause happens and his voice becomes satanic and he says: “and while you were daydreaming you just hit a car/those are just dreams and you will now get in an accident/keep your eyes on the road, fool.”

Anyway, it usually works on me, even after hearing it every other day, and I usually snap out of it and allow the Ministry of Transportation a few seconds of kudos for the ad campaign and credit for snapping me out of it.

Today I was driving and this complete asshole Israeli driver was on my tail and I was 100% focused on driving safely and keeping my eyes on the curves ahead. And then I hear the guy’s voice: “and while you were daydreaming…”

But I wasn’t, dude! I was doing exactly what you say! Then I started thinking about if everyone was always paying attention we wouldn’t need commercials to snap us out of it because we’d already be snapped out of it and then I realized, oh crap. Now I need that guy again.

Live, in Israel.

elie — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 08:15:09 +0000

Last night was the first time in a long time that I remembered I am in Israel. I was driving through the winding, narrow streets of Katamon listening to the radio. A campaign ad featuring Nir Barkat came on. I … Continue reading →

Today's word: תאונת דרכים

elie — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 18:33:51 +0000

Here’s what I get to listen to 45293436% of the time while driving home from school. It’s a loosely translated sampling of the radio D.J. on Galgalatz reading the traffic report:

“And now, the traffic. Folks, take it easy on the roads out there… We all want to get home safely, and we all need to be a little patient. Here’s some reasons why: On road A, from city B to city C, you have about 30 minutes of waiting to due to a תאונת דרכים at the entrance of exit D. And then on road E, going through junction F in the G direction, there is a תאונת דרכים causing 40 minute delays – careful, drivers. In direction H, towards city I, poor drivers will be waiting 20 minutes to pass to highway J because of a… well, תאונת דרכים. On highway K, on the L side of the M exit, they are just clearing up the remains of what seems to be a serious תאונת דרכים; please, drivers, think of the people around you. We will all get home tonight. Be patient. City N is not looking too good right now; junction O, between P and Q, is heavily backed up after a – can you guess? – תאונת דרכים that has caused all kinds of chaos. Road R is just picking up after an afternoon of back up between city S and city T, when not one – not two – but three תאונות דרכים caused lots of trouble for drivers towards city U. At junction V from city W to city X, there has been a תאונת דרכים causing major delays for those drivers trying to get to highway Y. And – this just in – a תאונת דרכים at the entrance to major city Z. Ah, brothers. A little patience, and we’ll all get home.”

So. Can you guess what today’s word – תאונת דרכים – means?