TEHRAN- Iran’s road traffic deaths fell from 32.1 per 100,000 population in 2015 to 20.5 in 2018, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) 2018 global status report on road safety published in December. 

In 2015, Iran ranked 8 among all the countries surveyed in terms of their roads’ mortality rates, but in 2018 the country’s rank among others dropped to 53 as over this period its road traffic death rates fell from 17,994 to 15,932, the WHO report indicated.

The report revealed that the majority of people died on Iranian roads were either the passengers (28%) or drivers (20%) of 4-wheeled cars and light vehicles. Riders of motorized 2- and 3-wheelers (24%) and pedestrians (22%) were the two other major groups killed on the road; while a very small number of victims were drivers and passengers of buses (1%), drivers and passengers of heavy trucks (2%) and cyclists (<1%). 

WHO estimated Iran’s road traffic fatalities dropped from 24,896 in 2015 to 16,426 in 2016. 

On November 22, Iran’s Traffic Police chief Taqi Mehri announced that Road fatalities caused by traffic accidents occurred in urban areas have dropped by 6 percent during the first six months of the Iranian current calendar year (March 21- September 22) compared to the same period last year. 

At the 4th National Traffic and Safety Conference held on November 21, Dr. Christoph Hamelmann Representative of World Health Organization (WHO) in Iran, said that proportion of traffic injuries in Iran is higher than in most other parts of the eastern Mediterranean region and elsewhere in the world, and is one of the country’s most serious problems.

He referred to the national Road Safety Strategic Plan (2011-2020) of Iran that has 14 strategic objectives mainly on speed management, motorists’ and pedestrians’ safety, development of a comprehensive crash data bank, road infrastructure safety, vehicle safety, and post-crash management, adding that the plan would need a revision within 2 years and WHO is ready to support this process.

The WHO report on road safety 2018 presented information on road safety from 175 countries, accounting for almost 98.1% of the world’s population.
The report highlighted that the number of annual road traffic deaths has reached 1.35 million. 

Road traffic injuries are now the leading killer of people aged 5-29 years. The burden is disproportionately borne by pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists, in particular those living in developing countries. 

SJ/MQ/MG