Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Could Waze Roadkill Data Help Save Israeli Wildlife?

Waze users could help save Israeli wildlife after the navigation app partnered with an environmental nonprofit and submitted a map to a Knesset committee on Tuesday outlining the most dangerous routes for wild animals.

Waze worked with The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel to enable Waze users to report roadkill sightings in the past six months, according to a news release. SPNI shared a map outlining the most dangerous routes to the Knesset Science and Technology Committee to show how technology can “safeguard the environment and Israeli nature,” according to the release.

SPNI found Route 2, or the highway from Tel Aviv to Haifa, and Route 6, or the trans-Israel highway, to be the most dangerous routes for animals. Each route received more than 700 reports of roadkill sightings during the six month period.

Users report traffic jams, road closings and other conditions to Waze, which updates other drivers.

Roadkill data for particular routes might alert other drivers to be cautious — and prevent future deadly accidents.

Contact Erica Snow at [email protected] or on Twitter @ericasnoww.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.