Norouz Road Fatalities Decline

EghtesadOnline: The number of deaths in road accidents during Norouz, the Iranian New Year holiday season (March 21-April 2), fortunately dropped compared with the same period of last year.

News ID: ۷۸۴۶۸۷

26 May 2019

Statistics released by Iranian Legal Medicine Organization show that between March 16 and April 4, a total of 915 people lost their lives, marking a 17.5% year-on-year fall.

In the previous year's Norouz holidays, 1,109 people had lost their lives in road accidents.

ILMO also reported on its website (LMO.ir) that the death rate on urban roads decreased by 19.6% YOY, dropping to 176 this year, compared to 219 in the year before, according to Financial Tribune.

During the period, intercity roads claimed 635 lives, 13% lower than the 732 recorded a year earlier.

In addition, 49 people were killed in suburban road accidents, which is 40% lower compared to 82 in last year's Norouz holidays.

Khorasan Razavi tops the provinces with 72 deaths, followed by Kerman and Sistan-Baluchestan with 71 each and Isfahan with 58 deaths.

Ilam, Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari and Alborz provinces had the lowest fatality rates with 3, 9 and 10 recorded respectively in the period.

This is while during the last Norouz holidays, Fars topped the other provinces with 102 deaths, followed by Kerman and Tehran with 78 and 77 fatalities respectively.

Ardabil, Bushehr and Ilam provinces had the lowest mortality rates with 6, 10 and 11 road accident deaths respectively in the period.

The good news about the declining death rates in Norouz is that over 74 million travels were recorded during the period.

According to the Iran's Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, 74.3 million travels were recorded during the peak tourism season, showing a 22% rise compared to the last Norouz.

“Road fatalities constitute 17.5% of total deaths recorded annually in the country,” said Tehran's Governor General Anoushiravan Mohseni-Bandpey.

Traffic Police have declared that sleep-deprivation (fatigue), overspeeding, wrong side overtaking, running a red light, talking on the cellphone, text messaging and munching behind the wheel, as well as low-quality vehicles and roads, are the main road killers.