Days after the start of the Persian New Year on Wednesday, General Saeed Montazer al-Mahdi, wrote in an advisory article, “In less than a week, many people have lost their lives and a significant number have been disabled and injured.”
“What is more tragic is that the annual death rate from traffic accidents in our country is equal to the total traffic fatalities of 27 European countries. Are the figures not dreadful?” he added.
General Montazer al-Mahdi singled out reckless driving as the main reason behind fatal incidents, stating “slowness is a virtue.”
The head of Iran’s Traffic Police General Hassam Momeni on Saturday put the latest figure of the deaths from road accidents during Nowruz holidays at 373.
General Momeni further said that over 10,500 people have been injured, 15 to 20 percent have ended up in disabilities.
Iran has one of the worst records of traffic accidents in the world, which gets even worse during holidays.
