Mick Hartley

Iran Road Accidents

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Mick Hartley

in

Reading of the terrible accident in Iran today, in which at least 70 people were killed when a tanker crashed into some buses, I saw this statistic:

This is one of the worst ever single accidents on Iran’s roads, which are notoriously dangerous, our correspondent says.

Around 22,000 people are killed every year in traffic accidents in the country.

On a monthly average, that is higher than the death rate in the eight-year war with Iraq in the 1980s, our correspondent notes.

22,000 killed every year?

Comments

  1. Laban Tall Avatar
    Laban Tall

    22,000 a year over 8 years is 176,000 deaths.
    Most commentators estimate the total casulaties of the First Gulf War between 500,000 and a million, and the Iranians took most of the casualties thanks to their WWI style ‘human wave’ attacks.
    But it’s a lot of traffic accidents. Comparable figure for UK is 3,500-odd.

    Reply
  2. Dr. Weevil Avatar
    Dr. Weevil

    That’s just over twice the US rate: 22,000 for a population of 70 million vs. 43,000 (2002 figure) for a population of 290 million.
    That sounds about right: general lack of airbags, much lower (I imagine) use of seatbelts, 3rd world standards of highway construction, 3rd world driving customs, lots of steep hills and cliffs to drive off, lack of rescue helicopters to get the injured to hospitals, so the same injury would be more likely to lead to death there than here . . . . I’m sure I’m forgetting some factors, most of which would tend to raise the Iranian death rate relative to the U.S. On the other hand, I imagine a mullah-ruled autocracy has much lower rates of drunk driving, which would tend to even up the numbers.

    Reply

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