New Year Holiday Trips Expected to Rise by 20%

Iran’s Traffic Police Chief Kamal Hadianfar projected that trips during the New Year Holidays known as Norouz, spanning from March 21 to April 2, could surge by 20% compared to the previous year. 
“It’s predicted that many will decide to travel this year. We need to ensure safe trips with the least number of accidents,” Hadianfar was quoted as saying by ISNA. 
According to him, 16,700 people died last Norouz on the roads and the police are taking measures ahead of the holidays to lower this year’s death toll.  
After two years of lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the public took part in “revenge” travel last Norouz, a term popularized in 2021 for those who go on trips to make up for time lost during the outbreak. 
Desire for traveling has not subsided in 2023. Despite travel expenses, the police have estimated that traveling could increase by 20% in the approaching holidays. 
Hadianfar noted, “If every car passenger throughout the country wears their seatbelt, death by car crashes will drop by 60%.”
He added that most accidents occurred due to driver fatigue and that the police planned to set up stations where most car accidents happened. 
Head of the organization for Emergency Medical Services, Jafar Meeadfar, also discussed preparations for the upcoming holidays, including positioning teams near city entrances where motorists are most tired and the majority of crashes occur. 
“During the Norouz of 2022, 47,000 were injured due to car accidents and 39,000 of them were transferred to hospitals,” he said. 
Norouz is notorious in Iran for the number of fatal crashes on its roads and authorities usually spend the month preceding the holidays issuing warnings and setting up patrol to minimize the damage caused by hundreds of daily accidents.