TEHRAN — Road casualties have decreased by seven percent since the beginning of the holidays (Mar. 15) in Iran compared to the same period last year, Traffic Police chief said on Wednesday.

Some half a million individuals comprising police, health and safety inspectors, and rescue and relief forces have provided the travelers with services since Mar. 15 and would keep on offering the services up until April 4, Mehr news agency quoted Taqi Mehri as saying.

The rainy and snowy holidays have not kept the families from travelling, Mehri said, stating, provinces of Tehran, Mazandran, Qom, Gilan, and Khorasan Razavi were the most visited places during the holidays.

Not keeping eyes on the road, tiredness and sleepiness contributed to 42 percent of the accidents, he regretted, adding, speeding with 23 percent and overtaking with 18 percent are to blame for the accidents as well.

Road accidents claim 250 lives in holidays

Some 250 individuals died in road accidents since the beginning of the holidays, said a high-ranking Traffic Police official on Wednesday, IRIB reported.

This year the number of the trips rose by 10 percent but the casualties dropped by seven percent which shows an improvement in traffic behaviors, Mohammad Hossein Hamidi suggested.

Head of Iran’s Emergency Medical Services, Pir Hossein Kulivand, also said that so far some 22,000 persons injured during accidents are transferred to hospitals and clinics to receive proper medical attention. 

“Compared to the same period last year the number of those who got injured in road accidents grew by 1.7 percent,” Kulivand pointed.

One death every 71 minutes in accidents

The deputy police chief Eskandar Momeni also said on Wednesday "whereas last year one person died in a car crash every 60 minutes during the holidays on average, one person died every 71 minutes since the beginning of the current holidays."

“While last year some 24 were killed daily on average over the Nuroz holidays in road accidents this year the number decreased to 21”, Momeni said, stating, “despite the decline the number is still big.”

In spite of the fact that over a 10 year period the number of the cars has increased from seven million to 19 million the number of deaths has fallen down from 28,000 to 16,000, he added, YJC reported.

The decline sounds fine but the number is still huge, he reiterated. 

According to IRNA news agency Iran’s forensics organization will officially announce the exact number of road casualties by the end of the holidays.

MQ