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Wreckage of a fatal car crash on an Iranian highway, highlighting the country’s alarming road safety crisis
The Iranian regime’s Minister of Health, Mohammadreza Zafarghandi, has revealed shocking new statistics on the devastating toll of road accidents, reporting that more than 20,000 people died and 3,000 were left paralyzed in crashes across the country in the past year. Speaking at a traffic safety event on March 15, Zafarghandi described the crisis as a major public health and economic burden.
“More than 20,000 people lost their lives in road accidents last year. Over one million injured individuals sought medical treatment, and more than 3,000 suffered spinal cord damage,” he stated, as reported by the state-run Fararu website.
The scale of Iran’s road traffic deaths has reached unprecedented levels, with official data confirming that fatalities have exceeded a 12-year high. Tabnak News compared the crisis to major historical disasters, stating that Iran’s road accident death toll in a decade is equivalent to the total casualties of the eight-year Iran-Iraq war.
#Iran News in Brief
A report dated October 16 by the state-run newspaper “Donyaye Eghtesad” concerning traffic #accident victims in Iran revealed that in on year, the number of fatalities resulting from traffic accidents on the roads amounted to 19,490 individuals.… pic.twitter.com/Q8knbwwlfi
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) October 16, 2023
Zafarghandi highlighted the immense economic impact of traffic accidents, revealing that the damages amount to nearly 7% of Iran’s GDP, surpassing even the total budget of the Ministry of Health.
Despite government pledges to improve road safety, accidents remain a leading cause of death, with young people making up the majority of victims. Alireza Raisi, Deputy Minister of Health, noted that 83% of those killed in traffic accidents were under 50, and over half were under 30 years old.
The Iranian National Transport Safety Organization claimed that in the first seven months of 1403 (March- October 2024), 11,873 people lost their lives in traffic accidents—a 5.6% decrease compared to the same period the previous year. However, over 238,000 people sustained injuries, highlighting the continued dangers on Iranian roads. Official traffic fatality data in Iran cannot be fully trusted, as the regime has a history of manipulating statistics for political purposes, often downplaying the true scale of safety crises to avoid accountability.
#Iran Regime's Inattention to Safety Measures, at Least 14 Dead and 18 Injured in Road Accident. https://t.co/kKLn83R21n pic.twitter.com/CZSNa7MJ4F
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) November 5, 2017
With the Persian New Year (Nowruz) approaching, authorities are bracing for another surge in accidents. Official statistics show that during the 2024 Nowruz holiday period, 1,089 people were killed in road crashes, averaging 54.5 deaths per day.
The Iranian Legal Medicine Organization warned that road deaths during Nowruz have historically spiked, with the highest record in 2023 reaching 1,217 deaths. The lowest number recorded was during the COVID-19 travel restrictions in 2020, when the death toll dropped to 534.
Although officials call for stricter road safety measures, the regime’s prioritization of regional conflicts over domestic welfare has left Iran’s infrastructure severely underfunded, while state-affiliated automakers continue to flood the market with substandard, unsafe vehicles, exacerbating the crisis.