Iranians count the cost of Nowruz traffic carnage
The Guardian / Iran Blog Inside the Crisis
09-Apr-2012 (one comment)

As the Iranian New Year holiday comes to an end, it is estimated thatbetween 500 and 700 Iranians lost their lives in road accidents during the two weeks' holiday, from 20 March to early April.



While road fatalities are not unique to Iran, the failure of successive Iranian governments over the last two decades to regulate safety standards in the car industry and effectively maintain the road network has made Iran one of the most dangerous countries in the world in which to drive a car. 



Two years ago, the United Nations's general assembly called on member states to "implement road safety activities", particularly in the areas of road safety management, road infrastructure and vehicle safety. It declared that the years from 2011 to 2020 should be "the decade of action for road safety". This message clearly didn't resonate in Tehran. 



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Simorgh5555

500-700 Iranians died in car accidents in Norouz

by Simorgh5555 on Mon Apr 09, 2012 04:24 AM PDT

The two other key issues that add to the death toll are the unacceptable state of the roads, and what one former traffic police chief called the lack of a proper "driving culture".

According to Iran's official news agency, the death toll on the roads has affected every family in the country, in the same way that every citizen was affected by the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-88. 

Iranians and cars are not build for each other. Its like wanting to have democracy in Iran, is there a 'culture' for democracy? Are people willing to tolerate each others differences? Not all of these preventable car deaths can be blamed on the IR Terrorist Regime; much of it is down to childish impatience and a  stupid bravado and cavalier attitude when driving without the least bit of care for other road users. I have seen it myself. Still much of the day to day frustration and pressures of living in the Islamic Republic is taken out on the road. The hoorendous day to day life for most Iranians makes driving and taking it out personal anghst on other road users makes Iran's roads hell. 



Balatarin
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