Why Iran’s Road Accident Rate Is Too High?
By Mahmoud Hakamian
Iran’s road accidents leave 28,000 dead and 300,000 injured and disabled every year, putting Iran in 189th place among 190 countries with respect to traffic related accidents.
According to Iranian regime officials, road accidents cost the country eight percent of its GDP.
The present article aims to address the reasons behind Iran’s high rate of road accidents, a controversial issue among regime officials and media in recent years.
Facts and figures
Iran’s road crash rate is 100 times higher than the world average, reports state-run Arman newspaper on March 12, 2018. The newspaper quotes regime’s Health Minister as saying “Iran’s traffic related accidents, particularly with respect to heavy vehicles, are 100 times higher than the world average. As for fatality rate per 10,000 vehicles, Iran’s figure is nearly twice the world average.”
“Iran is ranked 189th among 190 countries with regard to road accidents,” adds Hassan Ghazizade-Hashemi.
Regime’s chief of traffic police also acknowledges the roads’ critical conditions, saying “there are 3,400 accident-prone points across the country’s roads, of which 1500 are in a critical state.” (State-run IRNA news agency, February 28, 2018)
In addition to its high human costs, Iran’s road accidents also incur huge financial damages on the country’s economy. State-run ISNA news agency quotes Iraj Mohammadfam, member of regime’s High Council of Technical Safety and Occupational Health, as saying “road accidents inflict $97 million in financial damages on Iran’s economy.”
Mohammadfam refers to a study carried out by regime’s parliamentary research center, saying “Iran’s road accidents cost eight percent of the country’s GDP.” (State-run ISNA news agency, April 30, 2018)
Meanwhile, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has reported that Iran’s road accident rate is 20 times higher than the world average.
Most unintentional injuries leading to death in Iranian children under five years old are traffic related.
Each year, 28,000 Iranians die and 300,000 become injured or disabled due to road accidents.
Every 19 minutes one person dies in Iran’s road accidents while every two minutes an Iranian resident is informed about a relative being severely injured or disabled for life in a traffic related accident.
Poor quality roads: the main cause of Iran’s road accidents
Many of the roads across Iran are currently so old that they should actually be put out of service. This includes the roads across Mazandaran, which is considered to be one of the country’s so-called prosperous provinces.
The province has many roads that are more than 80 years old, including Chalus Road, which was built 80 years ago and has not been updated for proper operation and making use of necessary equipments.
“An arterial road linking Mazandaran to the capital is more than 80 years old, so that it’s no longer fit for today’s traffic volume and technology,” says state-run ISNA news agency on March 19, 2018.
Non-standard vehicles: another cause of road accidents
Non-standard vehicles are considered as one of the main reasons for Iran’s road accidents.
To make the most profit, state-owned auto manufacturers keep producing low quality vehicles that are mostly non-standard and unsafe to drive.
Acknowledging that domestically manufactured vehicles are of poor quality and non-standard, regime’s chief of traffic police Mohammadhossein Hamidi compares Iranian assembled cars to imported ones, saying “compared to poor quality and unsafe domestic vehicles, many of imported cars with even 10 years of age are more safe to drive, so that the passengers in these cars won’t be hurt in such accidents like the car being rolled over, while a similar accident for poor quality domestic cars leaves all the passengers dead.”
“Improving safety features of vehicles would reduce at least 40-45 percent of the country’s road accidents,” adds regime’s chief of traffic police. (State-run IRNA news agency, January 7, 2018)
Reduced construction budgets
While unsafe roads and vehicles kill thousands of Iranians each year, Rouhani’s government has been decreasing the country’s construction budget year after year, including the part allocated to the Ministry of Roads, using it instead to fund the military projects, the anti-people Revolutionary Guards and regime’s so-called cultural entities that are not to respond to any governmental organization.
The Ministry of Roads and Urban Development’s website has quoted the minister Abbas Akhundi as saying that only one percent of the country’s 7700 billion-toman budget in 2015 was allocated to the Ministry. (The Ministry of Roads and Urban Development’s website, December 20, 2016)
Besides, the Ministry’s 2018 budget has been significantly cut as well. The terrorist Quds force’s Tasnim news agency on December 12, 2017, quotes parliament’s Construction Commission Spokesman ‘Sadif Badri’ as saying “today, the parliament’s Constriction Committee carefully reviewed the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development’s next year budget, according to which it became clear that the budget has been reduced by 25 percent compared to last year’s.”
The decrease in the Minsitry of Roads and Urban Development’s budget while increasing the budget for military entities and the Revolutionary Guards is while most of the country’s roads are old, dilapidated, and non-standard that need to be repaired, renovated and even rebuilt.
So, the main reason for Iran’s high fatal road accident rate and huge financial damages is a ruling regime that has grabbed on the country’s wealth while sparing the least funding for the country’s construction projects, spending the budget instead over oppression at home and exporting terrorism and fundamentalism abroad.
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