Iranian traffic police, for the fourth consecutive year, has declared Fars Province as recording the highest rate of road crashes as well as road fatalities in the country.
The regular pattern of traffic accident rates in some provinces indicates that provincial roads (in particular in Fars, Khorasan Razavi, Tehran provinces) are not safe for driving.
During the first eight months of the current year that ends in March, Fars (1,060), Khorasan Razavi (838), Tehran (831), Isfahan (776), and Kerman (626) provinces had the highest rates of traffic-related deaths.
The highest rates of traffic-related injuries in the same period were in the provinces of Tehran (28,629), Khorsan Razavi (20,076), Isfahan (17,935) and Fars (17,142).
Based on figures released by the Traffic Control Information Center, human error like negligent driving (ignoring traffic lane discipline) or hogging the road and not giving way to drivers wanting to overtake, are the main reasons for 64% of the accidents. Dangerous roads and low quality vehicles also are responsible for the road crashes and cutting down innocent lives.
“In order to enhance safety of the Kazeroun-Bushehr road, which links Kazeroun in the southwest Fars Province to Bushehr, capital of the southern Bushehr Province, we have established two police stations along the route,” said Colonel Ahmed Ahmadi, traffic police chief of the northern division of Fars Province.
Other safety measures are also being developed by traffic police to reduce road crashes on Kazeroun-Shiraz and Kazeroun-Farashband roads. The road which connects Kazeroun and Shiraz has the highest rates of road crashes in the province.
The 160 km Chalus Road which connects Tehran via Karaj to the popular northern tourist resorts in Mazandaran Province and runs through the Alborz mountain range, is another dangerous winding road.
On Thursday, Mehdi Mehrvar, director general of Alborz Province Crisis Management Office, said 60 accident points (prone to avalanche and landslides) have been identified along the road and “safety measures will be taken soon to address the problems.”
Boulevards and highways in the bigger cities (in particular Tehran) also have a record 17% and 13% of traffic accidents, respectively.
The winding Imam Ali Expressway, which links Artesh Expressway in the north to Ayatollah Madani Street in the south, is said to be one of the most precarious highways in the capital that is home to 12 million people. According to Tehran Traffic Police, drivers using the expressway are obliged to reduce speed to 80 km/h.
Steady Decline in Road Mishaps
The rate of road mishaps dropped by 38% over the past decade, said traffic police commander, General Muhammad Hussein Hamidi, on Thursday.
He linked the decline to closer interaction between police and other institutions, and the use of new technology in controlling the traffic and drivers, Mehr News Agency reported.
In the past two years 2,200 new surveillance cameras were installed across the country to increase monitoring of arterial suburban roads to 30,000 km from 5,000 km in 2015. The cameras can record seven different types of violations (5 types in cities and 2 on suburban roads).
Additionally, cameras installed on the two main northern roadways of Chalus and Haraz, are able to record overtaking from the wrong side and other deviations.
Smart cameras have been installed on police cars patrols in city streets which capture violations and penalize offenders.
Also, some road surveillance cameras have been upgraded to ensure better performance in recording traffic violations.
Currently, most surveillance cameras in the cities have been upgraded to record five offenses: excess speed, running the red light, entering prohibited area, entry into even-odd restricted zones and stopping on a crosswalk. On suburban main roads, they record two offenses: excessive speed and motorists failure to pay toll.
The Iranian Legal Medicine Organization (ILMO) said during the first eight months of the current fiscal year that ends in March, 11,624 people lost their lives in road accidents, of whom, 9,076 were men and 2,548, women.
An average, 3,000 deaths in road mishaps occur every day around the world and they are ranked as the 11th most common cause of death in developing countries, with young people between the age of five and 24 facing the highest risk.
Low and middle income countries have less than half of the world’s vehicles, but they contribute to over 90% of the total number of road traffic deaths.
According to figures released by World Atlas in September 2016, Iran is ranked 4th on the list of countries with the highest road traffic deaths.
