48% Increase in Traffic Accidents; 169 Deaths in the Past Week

The spokesperson for the country's emergency services reported that 169 people died due to severe injuries from 'traffic and non-traffic accidents' between April 27 and May 3. He stated, 'Traffic special accidents have seen a 48% increase compared to the previous week.' Babak Yektaperast told ILNA that 645 incidents were recorded in the 'Special Incident Registration' system, which shows an 11% increase in the number of recorded incidents compared to the previous week. The highest number of recorded special traffic accidents occurred in Sistan and Baluchestan province with 22 incidents (124 injured and 9 fatalities), Fars province with 20 incidents (108 injured and 10 fatalities), and Tehran province with 18 incidents (79 injured and 6 fatalities). Yektaperast noted that 233 special traffic accidents were recorded last week, resulting in injuries to 1,317 people, with '62 of these individuals losing their lives.' According to the report, 11 cases of traffic accidents related to public transportation were recorded, leading to injuries of 108 people and 2 fatalities, which accounts for 5% of special traffic incidents. The highest fatalities were caused by truck accidents, resulting in 21 deaths. Collisions involving pickup trucks and motorcycles also led to 9 fatalities in the second week of May. Timur Hosseini, the head of the traffic police, stated that during the Nowruz holiday period from March 15 to April 3, 769 people died at the scene of accidents, and approximately 20,214 were injured. Due to the negligence of government officials in providing suitable roads, lack of oversight on domestic production, and the shortcomings of law enforcement in enforcing traffic laws or driver errors, at least 17,000 people die annually on the country's roads. Five people died in a bus accident carrying Iranian passengers in southern Armenia. Special program: Bloody Nowruz roads in 1403; the death toll from Nowruz accidents reached 664.