TEHRAN — Traffic police chief Taqi Mehri has announced that road casualties have decreased by 2.5 percent over the past 23 days of the Iranian calendar month of Shahrivar (August 23-September 22, 2017) in the country compared to the same period last year.

The last month of summer is the deadliest, as the most traffic-related deaths occur in this period more than during any other month of the year, Mehri regretted.

To prevent car crashes in the aforesaid period some 1,000 vehicles and 5,000 forces are tasked with helping Traffic Police in this preiod, he added.

Referring to the leading causes of road crashes, he noted that 39 percent of the traffic accidents occurred due to reckless and drowsy driving, and some 35 percent due to driving an unsafe speed and overtaking.

He mentioned that despite 2.5 percent drop in road casualties since the past 23 days compared to the same period last year, the number of trips have increased by 15 percent during the aforesaid period.

Mehri went on to say that 47 percent of crashes have happened between 16 and 24 o’clock and 63 percent of accidents resulted in deaths have occurred in 30 km from the cities.

Car rollover also contributed to some 37 percent of the road crashes taking lives of travelers, he also regretted.

FB/MQ