At Least 48 Die Daily in Road Accidents in Iran

Rooz Online

In its latest report, the Iranian Legal Medicine Organization reveals that at least 7,489 individuals have lost their lives in road accidents during the first five months of the Iranian calendar year. According to the report, 5,934 of the victims were male while 1,767 of the victims were female.

Last year, at least 18,000 individuals lost their lives in road accidents. Road accident fatalities are among the top three causes of death in Iran, claiming thousands of lives annually and resulting in thousands more of injuries. International data suggests that Iran ranks fifth in the world in the number of road fatalities.

More Fatalities than the Eight-Year Iran-Iraq War

The head of Iranian Legal Medicine Organization, Ahmad Shojaei, announced earlier this year that the majority of Iran’s road fatalities occur on intercity roads, comprising 64 percent of total fatalities. City roads rank second with 28 percent of fatalities, followed by rural and unpaved roads at 7 percent.

According to the data, road fatalities from 2001 through 2011 claimed more than 241,000 lives and resulted in 3,615,000 injuries. This puts the number of fatalities from road accidents above the number of Iran’s fatalities during the eight-year Iran-Iraq war. Comparing the number of fatalities to the Bam earthquake tragedy, Shojaei notes, “In the Bam earthquake, 42,000 of our fellow citizens lost their lives, capturing the world’s attention. People still remember the tragic dimensions of that earthquake. Earthquake is a natural and unpredictable event; but every two years a Bam earthquake-scale tragedy takes place on Iranian roads and no one pays any attention.”

Mohsen Ansari, an Iranian traffic official noted earlier this year that the number of annual road fatalities in Germany, which has comparable population to Iran, is only about 4,000, compared to about 19,000 in Iran.

Who Is Responsible?

While the number of road fatalities in Iran have been shocking for many years, no consensus has yet emerged on which governmental organization is responsible for such fatalities. The police blames the substandard quality of vehicles on the road, while carmakers blame substandard conditions of the roads. At other times, drivers who do not heed traffic laws are blamed. Meanwhile, dozens of Iranians lose their lives everyday and the officials stop at providing the data.