Reckless motorists who repeatedly violate traffic rules in Tehran will have to pass a mandatory training course on driving and traffic rules.
This is part of a new measure undertaken by Tehran Traffic Police to change dangerous driving habits and avert their bitter consequences, Mehr News Agency reported.
Tehran's police chief, Brigadier Hossein Rahimi, said the training course was launched on Saturday.
"The courses will be headed by over 230 traffic police officers who have been trained for educating reckless drivers," he said.
“Training drivers is not part of the job of traffic police. However, the police is taking the measure to improve public driving habits and reduce road traffic accidents and the resulting mortalities and damages.”
The courses have the capacity to train 2,000 drivers daily. Classes will last 35 to 40 minutes and are compulsory for drivers whose vehicles have been towed or their driving licenses seized by the police.
“The drivers will not receive their vehicles or driving license until they pass the training session,” he added.
Over five million vehicles and three million motorcycles ply the streets of the capital.
“Road traffic violations in the capital are controlled by 1,400 surveillance cameras, apart from police officers,” he said.
The cameras record overspeeding, wrong side overtaking and driving mishaps.
Dangerous Roads
According to the traffic police, about 2,500 road traffic accidents resulting in car damage, injury or death are reported daily in Tehran.
According to the Iranian Legal Medicine Organization, in the first month of the current fiscal year (started March 21), 2,395 people were injured and 101 died in road traffic accidents. Although the mortality figure shows a 9.9% decrease compared with the same period of last year, the injury rate shows a 1.4% increase.
The Traffic Police Department believes that stricter measures should be taken to curb the problem.
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, have been identified as the main reasons behind the road accidents.
Motorcyclists and their dangerous driving habits add to the problem.
