Nearly 6,000 primary school students in Tehran who were trained in road traffic rules and law-abidance prior to the start of the academic year (September 23), were commended by President Hassan Rouhani at a conference ‘Torchbearers of Traffic Culture’ at Azadi indoor stadium on Wednesday.
The students will act as “police representatives” in their households and ensure that family members abide by the traffic rules.
“It is a great stride, using public participation, particularly students, in resolving traffic issues through creating an orderly traffic culture,” Rouhani said.
The same model used to observe traffic laws can be worked out to promote social order, he told the conference held in cooperation with the Education Ministry on the occasion of the Law Enforcement Forces Week (October 5-11), aimed at raising public awareness on traffic law and its significance.
The president emphasized the importance of observing traffic rules “as it mirrors Iranian culture.” Streets and public places are the first sight encountered on arrival by foreign visitors.
“While it is true that we need standard roads and vehicles to eliminate traffic violation, but that won’t happen if people don’t observe the rules,” he noted.
Road accidents had declined from 27,000 cases in 2005 to 16,000 in 2014, which means society has improved in terms of law-abidance.
Iran has one of the highest mortality rates in the world in road accidents. The annual direct economic cost of traffic accidents was estimated at several billion dollars in 2012.
In the past ten years, the death toll in road mishaps showed an incremental trend till 2006. The newest data reveals a changing pattern from 2006 to 2012 with 27.2% decrease in the absolute number of deaths (from 27,567 to 20,068), 56% fall in deaths per 10,000 vehicles (from 19.5 to 8.2) and 31% decline in deaths per 100, 000 people (from 39.1 to 26.8).
