Four Chain Collisions in Iran; At Least One Dead and One Hundred Injured

Four chain collisions occurred in Iran in one day, resulting in nearly one hundred injured and at least one death; a young child reportedly died in a chain collision involving 130 vehicles on a highway south of Mashhad. According to Iranian news agencies, thick fog caused the extensive chain collision of 130 vehicles on the Mashhad-Nishabour highway on Friday afternoon. Images on the internet show scenes from this extensive chain collision, with cries from the victims and dozens of damaged and wrecked vehicles. IRNA reported that after this chain collision, another incident involving several vehicles left 12 injured on the same highway. Given the snowfall and rain across the country and the severe slipperiness of the roads, the likelihood of rollovers and accidents has increased, and drivers are advised to maintain a safe and controllable speed and appropriate following distance, as stopping distances during snowfall and rain increase several times, necessitating a following distance at least three times that of dry roads. Colonel Jahani from the traffic police stated that Iranian news agencies reported two other chain collisions on Friday on the Karaj-Qazvin highway, resulting in at least 22 injured. Reports indicate that a chain collision involving 24 vehicles on the Karaj-Qazvin highway left at least 11 injured, and another chain collision involving 9 vehicles in the same area also resulted in 11 injuries. Although the cause of these incidents has not been announced and is under investigation, Friday's snowfall and rain have caused slippery roads in Alborz province. Iranian news agencies have reported varying statistics on these chain collisions. Colonel Ainollah Jahani, the social and traffic culture deputy of the traffic police, stated that since the beginning of the Nowruz holiday, 160 people have died in traffic accidents and over 3000 have been injured. He added that the number of fatalities from Nowruz accidents has decreased by 2% compared to last year. This traffic police official emphasized that due to the specific weather conditions prevailing in the country, the likelihood of rollovers and accidents has increased, and thus advised drivers to adhere to safe and controllable speeds and appropriate following distances, as stopping distances during snowfall and rain increase significantly. He also mentioned that about 20,000 vehicles belonging to high-risk drivers have been confiscated since the beginning of Nowruz. In this context, the number of traffic accident victims during Nowruz reached 145 by the second day of Farvardin.