Ahmad Shirani, the head of the Information and Traffic Control Center of the Iranian regime’s police, announced that the number of fatalities in accidents during the new Persian year, which began on March 21, has reached 585. At the same time, the head of the Traffic Police announced an increase in fines.
On March 28, Shirani told the regime’s semi-official ISNA news agency that this number of deaths is related to 484 accidents.
This number of fatalities in accidents comes as, according to this police official, the volume of traffic on Iran’s roads from March 14 to 28 decreased by three percent compared to the same period last year.
Shirani further stated that the number of injury accidents was 12,472 and the number of injured was 15,574.
He added that there have also been 65,083 accidents which resulted in material damage.
In recent days, the regime’s State Security officials have repeatedly identified drivers as the main culprits of fatal accidents.
Siyavash Mahboubi, deputy head of the Traffic Police, said on March 28, “Excessive speed, illegal overtaking, left turns, and opposite direction movements have been the most common violations that drivers have committed and led to the impounding of their vehicles.”
In past years, Iranian regime officials have always cited failure to yield, inability to control vehicles, and excessive and unauthorized speeding as major causes of accidents.
Last year, they said that 82 percent of these road accidents occurred due to inattention, fatigue, and drowsiness of drivers, especially on long routes.
At the same time, numerous reports have been published about the poor quality of vehicles, especially Iranian-made vehicles, and this issue has been cited as one of the main factors contributing to accidents.
Fivefold increase in fines
Attributing drivers as responsible for the high number of accidents in Iran has led to an increase in fines.
Teymoor Hosseini, head of the Traffic Police of the Iranian regime, said on March 28 to the regime’s official, IRNA, “With the recent decision of the Cabinet to increase the amount of fines, the rate of fines has increased fivefold on average.”
According to Hosseini, the highest increase in fines is related to drunk driving, which has increased sevenfold with the recent government decision.
The increase in the rate of fines for drivers comes at a time when the government has not announced any measures to improve the quality of vehicle production.
In addition to the poor quality of domestically produced vehicles in Iran, the aging of cars has also made roads more unsafe.
According to official sources, about 90 percent of motorcycles and 40 percent of passenger cars are in the aging category, and part of the public transportation fleet is also affected by aging.
According to experts, technical problems on Iran’s roads are another contributing factor to fatal accidents.
Last year, the head of the Traffic Police tacitly confirmed this issue and said, “We have 5,200 accident-prone spots on the country’s roads.”
