10,000 Deaths on Iran's Roads in 7 Months - 2003-11-20

In recent days, the statistics of fatal accidents in Iran have shown an upward trend; while the news of 36 people killed on the Yazd to Tabas road was still fresh, it was announced that another 20 people lost their lives in a severe accident on the Saveh road. On Wednesday (November 19), the head of Iran's traffic police pointed to the horrifying increase in road accidents in the country, stating: 'Since the beginning of this year, 46,000 traffic accidents have occurred on the country's roads, resulting in the deaths of 10,000 people.' Brigadier General Bahram Norouzi, speaking at a conference on roads in Khorasan in Mashhad, added: 'Of this number, about 2,300 people died at the scene of the accident, and the rest during transportation to medical centers.' He further emphasized: 'More than 50% of traffic accidents occur within 30 kilometers of cities, which is due to the presence of secondary roads and their connection to main roads.' He also mentioned: 'To reduce traffic accidents near cities, in addition to blocking secondary roads, grade-separated interchanges must be constructed in the country.' Norouzi noted that 10% of traffic accidents in Iran are also related to motorcyclists, adding: 'If a fundamental solution is not found for the issue of traffic accidents in the country, it could impose many problems on the country in the future.' The head of Iran's traffic police also cited the non-compliance with traffic laws, the unsuitability of existing roads, and their mismatch with the number of vehicles as the main reasons for the increase in accidents in the country. He concluded by stating that the laws regarding traffic offenses in Iran are not deterrent, emphasizing: 'Last year, 16.5 million tickets were issued to offending drivers, which could not reduce the number of traffic accidents in the country.'