Close to 13,000 innocent lives were lost in road accidents during the nine months to Dec. 21, data published by the Coroner's Office shows.
Iranian Legal Medicine Organization (ILMO) data show that in the nine-month period (Mar. 21- Dec. 21, 2018), 12,850 road deaths were reported.
Of the total lives lost on the roads, 3,257 were in urban areas. Accidents on inter-city roadways took 8,685 lives during the period and 908 people died in suburban road accidents.
Fars Province, infamous for traffic mortality rates, tops other provinces with 1,056 deaths, followed by Tehran with 937. The third province with the highest number of road deaths is Khorasan Razavi, with 882 fatalities.
Ilam, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad and Yazd provinces registered the lowest number of fatalities respectively with 121, 145, and 169.
Slight Increase
Road mortality has increased slightly by 0.6% compared to the corresponding period of last year.
ILMO said during the nine-month period last year, 12,773 people lost their lives in road mishaps.
However, the figures show a 3.9% year-on-year fall in the mortality rate on city roads. Last year in the nine-month period, 3,390 people were killed in car accidents in urban areas.
This is while the number of deadly accidents on inter-city roads increased by 1.6% compared to last year’s 8,546 reported deaths.
The number of deadly suburban road accidents also shot up 8.5% YoY.
During the fiscal ending in March 2005, more than 28,000 people died in road accidents in Iran. Since then the number has dropped reaching 15,900 in the fiscal that ended in March 2016.
However, the number of road fatalities has been of the ascending order since March 2016. Road accidents cut short 16,201 innocent lives in the last calendar year that ended in March 2018 -- 1.9% higher than a year earlier.
Police Frustration
Traffic Police Chief for Roads, Brigadier General Mohammad Hossein Hamidi says on average 40 traffic accident deaths are reported every day.
Disappointed at the outrageously high mortality rates, he says, "With limited funding for the Traffic Police, we have done everything to the best of our ability” to make the roadways safe, but to no avail.
In an earlier talk with the automotive website Asre Khodro, Hamidi complained that the roads are not safe enough and cars made by local companies are of poor quality and flout safety standards.
Given the poor road conditions, substandard domestic vehicles and the irresponsible driving habits of Iranians, Traffic Police has indeed reached its limit, the general rued.
Last month the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development released the result of its road analysis, saying that there are over 5,400 accident-prone areas along roadways throughout the country, more than half of which are in urban areas.
A Toxic Mix
Local car companies have been censured for the poor quality of their cars by buyers and the general public, but their complaints have so far fallen on deaf ears.
Also, dilapidated vehicles used in the public transportation fleet, including urban and inter-city buses, have a big share in road accidents.
In Tehran's public transport fleet alone, there are over 6,000 buses, half of which are more than ready for the scrap yard, according to the Tehran Bus Company. This is also the case with the transport fleet around the country.
In addition, safety measures are often overlooked in road construction in Iran.
Add to this the toxic concoction of drivers’ sleep-deprivation (fatigue), speeding, overtaking from the wrong side, running a red light, talking on the cell phone, text messaging and munching behind the wheel.
