An annual average of 43% of highway fatalities in Tehran involve pedestrians, according to an expert on accidents.
“In the last four months, 36% of accidents involved pedestrians, 46% motorcycles and 18% cars,” Rabe’eh Javanbakht was also quoted as saying by Donyaye Khodro.
Road accidents are a global problem and every year, they cause numerous fatalities and impose heavy economic costs. Iran is also grappling with this problem and registers one of the highest numbers of car accidents and road fatalities every year.
The most common causes of accidents are lack of attention (41%), inability to control the vehicle (30%) and not respecting the right of way (7%). A total of 54% of accidents happen on highways and 4% on main streets.
The largest number of road accidents occurred in Tehran’s districts 6, 10 and 20.
The widths of streets, location and number of highways, as well as the cultural and living conditions of residents of each district affect the volume of accidents.
"About 43% of fatalities in Tehran’s accidents happen on highways. These accidents happen in places where pedestrians are not allowed to cross," Javanbakht said.
“When it comes to accidents, there are two main groups at higher risk, children and middle-aged people.”
The expert noted that some elderly people hesitate when crossing the street, or are unable to take a timely decision, which causes accidents.
"When the accident happens, the driver claims that he could not see the pedestrian before the collision. This is while the pedestrian thinks the driver can see him and will do something to avoid an accident," she added.
"Unsafe street crossing is one of the causes of pedestrian accidents. This is while all facilities for safe pedestrian crossing have been installed in high-traffic areas, so pedestrians must use the footbridge.”
Iran Road Accidents’ Losses Estimated at 8% of GDP
One person dies in a road accident every half hour in Iran, taking the annual death toll to 17,000, the Iranian Legal Medicine Organization announced.
The organization also said close to 30,000 people are annually embroiled in accidents that lead to paralysis.
The pain of losing a loved one is bigger than the terrible numbers, but the media are usually inclined to highlight the economic losses of these accidents.
According to Majlis Research Center, the research arm of the Iranian Parliament, the costs of road crashes amount to 8% of Iran’s gross domestic product.
In the years ending March 2012 and March 2017, car collisions cost the economy 519 trillion rials ($2.1 billion) and 535 trillion rials ($2.17 billion) respectively, a report by the Persian-language daily Shargh reads.
“The aging fleet of intercity buses is in dire need of renewal; it has been years that the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development is pursuing this plan and has dedicated resources to replacement projects,” said former roads minister, Mohammad Eslami, on Saturday.
“Nothing has come out of our plans, at least concerning the [renovation of] trucks. There are 55,000 trucks older than 49 years. We have a detailed plan and signed deals with factories. Nothing has materialized and they should explain why they don’t carry out their contracts. The average age of road fleet must decline. At present, the average age of buses is around 11 years and that of minibuses is 24 years.”
Gholamreza Khademizadeh, the head of Passenger Bus Drivers Association, told ISNA that besides the dilapidation of road fleet, new buses being manufactured these days use poor technology and don’t have the minimum core standards.
“Authorities at the Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade, as well as Iran National Standards Organization, and the Consumer and Producer Protection Organization do not exercise enough supervision over the manufacturing processes. As a result, vehicles with subpar quality are being manufactured. Scania [buses] are the telling example of such products,” he added.
Khademizadeh noted that none of the profiles used in Scania buses, the welded points and connection points meet the standards.
“Seat belts that the police department strongly insists on using are two-point lap seatbelts designed for airplanes whereas three-point seatbelts must be installed in buses to keep passengers from hurtling forward or backward, or out of the vehicle during incidents,” he said.
The official noted that a visit to vehicle inspection centers will show that their procedures are just a formality.
“They might check the tires and windshields at best; the technical manager of the center does not sit behind the wheel to even check the brakes,” he said.
“The renewal of the fleet is a pressing need but they insist that this must not be met through imports because domestic production is adequate. This is while those who oppose imports must be aware of the fact that only 300 vehicles are being manufactured in Iran annually. At present, there are 7,000 dilapidated buses in the country. By just tapping into domestic potentials, it would take 25 years to replace the old buses with new ones and then again the process must restart,” he concluded.
Hassan Karimi-Sanjari, an automotive expert, noted that buses written off in the European countries and imported at a quarter of their new one’s real price are given a facelift and then become road killers in Iran.
“Dilapidation and technical glitches are the main causes of numerous road collisions in Iran,” he said.
