The Traffic Police has envisaged measures to make road trips safer during the upcoming Norouz holidays. Plans include deploying extra officers throughout the country and establishing emergency response centers.
Norouz, the Persian New Year, holidays (March 20-April 2), is the main extended holiday season in Iran when many people hit the roads to meet family and friends.
The disturbing side is that during the annual travel season hundreds of lives are cut short due to road accidents. To curb the outrageously high road mortality rates the Traffic Police implements preventive measures.
Traffic Police Chief for Roads, Mohammad Hossein Hamidi says that between March 16 and April 6, all construction project on urban and intercity roadways will be banned, news outlets said.
He added that half-built roads and under-construction paths add to driving risks and consequently increase fatality rates.
"To facilitate safe travel, rest areas, roadside health centers, and shops, plus vehicle maintenance stations along with emergency response centers will be established along roadways and highways, especially those traversing through deserts and rugged terrain."
Outlining the road safety measures, Traffic Police Chief General Taqi Mehri said in addition to the police officers already stationed along the roads, 5,000 more will be deployed around the country.
Recalling that last year's road death toll in Norouz was unacceptably high, the general hoped new safety measures will deliver and families will be able to travel safely.
He said road accidents claimed over 1,000 innocent lives during the new year holidays last year (March- April 2018).
Traffic Police regularly highlight sleep-deprivation (fatigue), speeding, overtaking from the wrong side, running a red light, talking on the cell phone, text messaging and munching behind the wheel, low-quality vehicles and the poor road conditions as factors leading to the high fatality rates.
