Licence to Kill: Traffic Deaths in Iran

It’s New Year in Iran, a time when many families take to the road, enjoying the two-week holiday either at the seaside in the north or in Shiraz and Isfahan.

But many of these journeys end in tragedy. Despite the success of government efforts to improve road safety in recent years – which, according to the UN’s World Health Organization (WHO), have resulted in significant reduction in road deaths – the country still has one of the highest numbers of road traffic injuries in the world. The death toll from traffic accidents remains high.

Badly maintained roads, unsafe cars and inadequate emergency services all contribute to the crisis. But bad driving is also to blame, and it could be argued that this is the main reason for the majority of deaths.   

In 2013, a survey of road traffic accidents in Iran revealed that the most common cause of traffic accidents was drivers simply ignoring the rules of the road (64.17%), or failing to pay adequate attention to their driving (24.02%). The same survey reported that almost 16 per cent of new drivers become involved in an accident during the first year of obtaining their licence. 

Because going to clubs or bars is not an option, some young people consider it a pastime to engage in reckless and dangerous driving. In a country where you can be arrested for possessing alcohol – and be sentenced to receive lashes as punishment – accidents caused by drunk driving are surprisingly common.

Across the globe, among the list of the leading causes of deaths, traffic accidents come eighth. But, in Iran, it is the second leading cause after heart diseases.

The majority of people killed in road accidents in Iran are young men, killed at an age when they are most able to contribute to the livelihood of their families and communities.

“Iran has one of the highest costs of road traffic injuries in the world,” Said Dahdah, a World Bank transport specialist working on the Middle East and North Africa region, told IranWire.

“On average, these middle income Middle East and North African countries lose around 5.4% of their GDP, with Iran losing a significant 8.4% of its GDP to road traffic injuries, which is among the highest in the world,” reports the World Bank.

The World Bank runs a global partnership program, the Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF), to address the growing crisis of road traffic deaths in low- and middle-income countries. Iran received financial support from the program between 2009 and 2011.

As deadly as war

The government has begun to tackle the issue. Iran’s Five-Year Development Plan aims to reduce road accident fatalities by 10 per cent annually. Last week, Iran's chief of police Iran's announced a reduction in casualties in recent years, from more than 28,000 in 2006 to less than 18,000 in 2013. He praised these achievements, but said more must be done, as the annual number of casualties still equals the lives lost each year during the Iran-Iraq war.

WHO confirms that the situation has improved. “In recent years Iranian efforts for road safety has resulted in tangible reductions in resultant deaths,” Dr Hala Sakr from the World Health Organization’s Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean told IranWire.

According to WHO, many road traffic injuries can be prevented by adopting simple good practices, such as wearing helmets and seatbelts.

We asked WHO what the government can do to reduce accidents. Its recommendations are surprisingly simple:

1. “A drink-driving law based on blood alcohol concentration”;

2. A law that makes it mandatory for motorcycle drivers and passengers to wear a helmet “that covers all riders (on all roads and all engine types)”, in line with international standards on helmets;

3. A seatbelt law for both frontseat and backseat passengers;

4. A law that allows local authorities to reduce speed limits and that sets the maximum urban speed limit at “less than or equal to 50 kilometers per hour”.

WHO classifies road traffic injury as a major, but very often neglected, public health challenge. The UN has dubbed 2010-2020 as the Decade of Action for Road Safety.Iran's chief of police admits that they are behind on their road safety program, but promised to make up for this by reducing death tolls by 15 per cent in years to come.

In less than 10 days, when the new year holiday ends, we will see how successful Iran’s police have been in keeping drivers safe.