A s Nowrouz holidays came to an end on Friday and the last holiday-makers headed home, road accidents still cast a shadow on the joyful spirit of the festive holiday season marking the Persian New Year-known as Nowruz. However, this year some good news about the decline in road accidents brightened the mood of travelers – launching a year that could harbinger fewer accidents and road fatalities.
According to statistics released by Traffic Police Department announced on Friday, there were 12% fewer road mishaps during the Nowruz holidays than the previous year. Traffic-related deaths also saw an 11% decrease.
‘’Fortunately, no pile-ups were reported this year with Isfahan, Tehran, Golestan, Sistan and Baluchestan and Kerman showing the most declines in accidents’’, said Traffic Police Chief Brigadier General Eskandar Momeni . The most dangerous provinces, Momeni said, were Fars, Isfahan, Khorasan Razavi, East Azerbaijan and Khuzestan.
Violations
As for the accidents, Momeni named “driver fatigue” and “drowsy driving” as the primary reasons. Other major causes were “distracted driving”, “speeding” and “illegal over-taking”. Momeni added that 40% of accidents were rollovers and the majority of car crashes in Nowruz occurred between the hours of 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.
Provinces where the most traffic violations occured were Zanjan and South Khorasan ,while Chahar-Mahal Bakhtiyari and Ardebil provinces were the best in abiding by traffic rules.
Rescue Operation
As most of the people were trying to get the most out of their holidays by travelling to resorts and historical sites, aid workers from Iranian Red Crescent Society(IRCS), fire fighters and ambulance technicians were on alert to rush for the rescue of the injured during holiday mishaps.
According to reports, Red Crescent teams rescued 4,400 people from incidents until Friday morning. “Overall we carried about 5,400 operations, 3,000 of which were rescue attempts and 2,400 general services to citizens,” said Hossein Darvishi, the Rescue Operations Deputy at the IRCS in comments posted on the organization’s website. He added that overall, 110,000 travelers benefited from IRCS services, 2,800 of which were transferred to medical centers for treatment.
Emergency Care
National Ambulance Service also played a critical role during the holidays with active presence roads. Ambulance services increased more than 59% this year compared with the previous year. Amin Seberinia the Head of the National Ambulance Service noted the prodigious rise in ambulance services was due to the increase in the number of ambulances and also the increase this year in holiday trips.
“Medical operations carried out by ambulances totaled 111,373 cases, 23,705 of which were related to road accidents,” Saberinia said. Emergency care for car crashes accounted for 72% of all the ambulance operations.
Non-accident services had mostly to do with cardiovascular and respiratory conditions which Saberinia attributed to the aging population in Iran. Other visits to road ambulances were mostly due to headaches and nausea.
One particular tragic incident occurred in the northern province of Golestan, in wich a father lost his life after saving his drowning son from a river. Speedy attempts to bring the man back to life by medical teams were ineffective.
