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FATAL accidents between motorists and stray camels have plagued desert countries for many years, but an Israeli boy may have found the solution by fitting the animals with specially-made safety vests.
Udi Hochberg, a seven-year-old from Tel Aviv, contrived the fluorescent-coloured vest as part of a school project after hearing about a motorist who was killed in a collision with a camel in Israel's Negev desert.
The boy and his father, Assaf, travelled to the Arab town of Kafr Kassem in central Israel, where they fitted a vest - with a hole for the hump and straps to secure it - onto a camel.
"We thought that if somehow we could mark the camels, it can save lives," Assaf Hochberg said.
He said he and Udi had no plans to try to manufacture or market the vests but that they hoped the idea would inspire entrepreneurs to adopt it.
Israeli police say 10 motorists have been killed in the last 10 years after colliding with stray camels in Israel. Similar accidents have been reported in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates.
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