Road accidents are the eighth and third leading causes of death in the world and Iran respecttively. More than 120,000 Iranians have been killed and over one million have been injured in road accidents over the past five years, IRNA reported. This is an enormous loss of manpower and earnings, as the average age of victims in Iranian road accidents is under 30. According to statistics, one dies in urban road accidents every 20 minutes and the same number of people is killed on inter-city roads. The rate of disability caused by accidents is also very high in Iran, such that 200,000 people suffer from mild to very serious disabilities caused by road accidents. Careless driving, high speed and low safety of roads and cars have been found to be the main causes of fatal accidents, ranking Iran fifth in terms of high rate of accidents. The rate of accidents increases in Iran in Norouz and summer holidays, as a large number of holidaymakers take to the roads. A report published by Mehr News Agency in 2013 said the number of fatalities in the Iraq-Iran war was lower than the fatalities caused by accidents over the past 12 years.
The Iraq-Iran war left 554, 858 people disabled while road accidents in the past 12 years led to the disability of nearly 2 million people, it said. Another report by ISNA this month claimed that the annual rate of fatalities in road accidents equals the number of people killed in 60 passenger plane crashes. A report published by the Persian daily Hamshahri in April highlighted the cost of accidents in Iran. The total annual cost of accidents in Iran, including those incurred by fatalities, injuries, care for disabled people and emotional care after accidents, stands at $17.33 billion in Iran, the report said. Fariborz Mohammadi, a traffic expert, blamed nonstandard roads, including narrow and non-asphalted roads, two-way narrow roads and roads without lane lines, as the main reasons for accidents.