Hardly 30% of the cars made in the country can be placed in the acceptable safety category, the Traffic Police chief said in a blunt criticism of local automotive companies that are almost always defined by their high prices and poor quality.
“Traffic Police had to fight hard and long for implementation of basic motor vehicle safety standards,” General Taqi Mehri told reporters on Friday. “Only 30% of cars made in Iran are safe to drive,” Fararu news website quoted him as saying.
“The police is pushing for upgrades in automotive standards. However, the final decision will be made by the High Council of Standard,” he said.
It was not clear why the seemingly influential council had done close to nothing over the years when car quality had visibly been of the declining order.
The council is made up of the sitting president and members of his Cabinet, the attorney general, head of the Department of Environment, head of Iran Chamber of Commerce, and director of the Institute of Standards and Industrial Research of Iran (ISIRI).
In elaborating his assessment, the general said, “As per the current mandatory automotive standards, domestic companies must have two airbags on their cars. To improve the safety of both the driver and passengers this number needs to be revised upwards.”
Traffic Police will continue to demand stricter safety standards, he stressed. Observers, however, concur that such efforts will ultimately be an exercise in futility.
What Role for ISIRI?
For years car buyers and independent observers have censured local automotive companies for making low-quality vehicles that spew poison in the air, flout safety rules and endanger people’s life.
In a bid to raise the bar for the upstart carmakers, and implement more stringent automotive standards, ISIRI had introduced new requirements as part of a plan named the Islamic Republic Car Assessment Program (IRCAP).
It is reported that four main models manufactured by Iran Khodro and SAIPA, namely Pride, Tiba, Samand and Peugeot 405, are simply not of the quality that can meet the new standards.
However, the US sanctions along with the economic challenges Iran is saddled with, have pushed the local auto sector into a hiatus, hurling some improvement plans into uncertainty.
The combination of factors, namely rising costs and overheads and the difficulty in both local parts production and imports, have led many to speculate that ISIRI will be forced to shun its higher standardization agenda, at least for now.
After all, the auto industry in one of the biggest employers in Iran and the job market is such that the government cannot afford to expand the dole queues by closing some auto production lines.
Informed sources say the ISIRI blueprint now lacks meaningful government support. Seemingly, preserving the limping industry and its jobs are higher on the state agenda compared to the need for higher automotive standards.
Booster Seats
In light of disturbing reports about the rising number of children killed in road accidents, the Traffic Police is considering making use of booster seats for children mandatory.
General Mehri recently said, "Using booster seats for kids is highly recommended until fundamental changes are introduced in auto safety rules… To increase child safety, car seat makers should revisit their products and equip vehicles with special seats for children,” adding that booster seats will soon become mandatory.
Mehri emphasized the need for robust measures to help reduce car accidents, calling on local carmakers to take safety standards more seriously – a policy now upheld at the universal level wherein there are much more cars than people want to buy.
Rising Death Toll
Data released by the Legal Medicine Organization (coroner’s office), show that road accidents in the past calendar year that ended in March cut short the lives of over 16,000 people, 4.5% were kids under 10.
In other words, 44 people lost their lives in road mishaps on a daily basis. “It is more regrettable that two of the daily fatalities were kids who had not celebrated their tenth birthday,” the Traffic Police chief said.
Another report by the LMO showed deaths on the road in the first five months of the current year rose 1.7% compared to the corresponding period last year. During the period 7,062 people were killed in car crashes.
According to Traffic Police, 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 are the most serious driving violations leading to fatal crashes.
Additionally, the poor quality of roads and questionable quality of locally made cars have been often singled out as the main culprits behind the unacceptably high death toll.
Poor Marks From WHO
A new report by the World Health Organization (WHO) on the number of road traffic mortalities in 2016 ranks Iran in 38th place on the list of the most deadly roads.
The report which was released early this month, says roads in Iran claimed over 15,932 lives in that year, which, according to WHO means about 20 deaths per 100,000 people. In the list, Pakistan and Russia come ahead of Iran in terms of road accident mortality respectively with 16,805 and 18,931 lives cut short.
The situation is a tad better in Thailand and Ethiopia, where 12,378 and 10,905 people died in car accidents respectively. China topped the list with 261,367 recorded deaths.
The data highlights that annually 1.35 million fatalities around the world are linked to road traffic accidents, making the factor the leading killer of people.
