The immediate deaths arising from accidents during Norouz, the Iranian New Year holiday season (March 21 to April 2) regrettably rose compared to the same period of last year.
Statistics released by the Roads Ministry show that during the period from March 16 to April 4, 470 people lost their lives, a 17% increase from last year’s immediate deaths.
The number of accidents resulting in loss of life experienced a 21.6% rise, reaching 366. The number of accidents resulting in injuries also rose to 4141, up 23.8%.
As expected in Norouz, road trips observed a 13% y/y hike during the holiday season. However, the number of trips should not be used as a justification for the excessively high number of casualties.
Many Iranian families travel in the extended Norouz holiday to visit family and friends or pass leisure time. For two weeks almost all highways are clogged with cars and buses leading to many road mishaps and fatalities that have cut short thousands of innocent lives on a regular basis.
During the past ten years from 2008 to 2017, 11,870 people have lost their lives in car accidents in Iran. Furthermore, every single day, 100 people are added to the disabled in the country due to car crashes.
Culprits
The three culprits always discussed in these circumstances are human error, road quality and vehicle quality.
According to Traffic Police Chief General Taqi Mehri, speeding, illegal overtaking and driver fatigue account for 85% of the car crashes during this year’s Norouz.
While it is true that people can benefit from law-abiding citizens, one point that needs to be highlighted is that safety standards in automobiles must be improved.
Safety standards have been a point of contention for years. The Ministry of Industries and Institute of Standards and Industrial Research of Iran have tried to impose regulations on car manufacturers to either halt the production of certain vehicles or improve their safety standards.
They have not been successful in cutting the most dangerous cars out of the auto market yet.
