Data released by the Iranian Legal Medicine Organization present a worrisome picture of road fatalities.
Over 17,000 people lost their lives in road mishaps in the last fiscal year (ended March 20, 2019). The death rate is 1.2% higher compared to the year before.
A comparative look at ILMO’s charts shows that during the period under review, 17,183 people lost their lives in road accidents across the country. The figure was 16,984 in the year before.
ILMO also said on its website (LMO.ir) that the death rate on urban roads decreased by 2.3% year-on-year, with 4,276 killed in the last fiscal year, compared to 4,378 in the year before
During the period, inter-city roads claimed 11,029 lives, 2.6% more than the 10,749 recorded a year earlier.
In addition, 1,095 people were killed in suburban road accidents, which is 4.9% higher compared to 1,044 in the fiscal 2017-18.
Notorious for the high road death rates, Fars tops the provinces with 1,357 deaths, followed by Tehran at 1,319 and Isfahan 1,127 deaths.
A closer glance at the figures shows that the road fatality rate in Fars was down 8.2% compared to the year before. The number had dropped from 1,478 to 1,357.
Figures in Tehran, however, show a 1.7% rise, from 1,297 road deaths recorded in the year ending March 20, 2018, to 1,319.
Unfortunately, the death rate in Isfahan shows a noticeable 8.9% rise, from 1,035 in the fiscal 2017-18 to 1,127 last year.
Ilam, Kohgilouyeh-Boyerahmad and Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari provinces had the lowest fatality rates with 147, 186 and 237 recorded respectively in the yearlong period.
Among the three, the death rate in the latter showed a 2.6% increase. During the year ending March 2018, 231 road deaths were reported in the western province.
Ilam and Kohgilouyeh-Boyerahmad reported notable declines (5.8% and 3.1% respectively) in the number of road fatalities.
In the fiscal 2017-18, 156 and 192 people lost their lives in road crashes in Ilam and Kohgilouyeh-Boyerahmad provinces respectively.
Traffic Police say sleep-deprivation (fatigue), overspeeding, wrong side overtaking, running a red light, talking on the cellphone, text messaging and munching behind the wheel, as well as low-quality vehicles and roads, are the main road killers.
Motorcyclists and their dangerous driving habits add to the increasing number of road victims.
