Evaluation of road traffic accident injuries in Iran

Road traffic accidents (RTAs) is leading cause of death in children less than 5 years oldin Iran. Globally, road traffics accidents kill 1.2 million people every year and leave 50-20 million people injured and disabled. Each year, road traffic crashes kill nearly28,000 people in Iran, and injure or disable 300,000 more. 7 percent of GDP is spentfor RTAs in Iran. Every 19 minutes one person dies on Iran’s roads, and every twominutes people will hear that one of their family members has survived a crash butwith serious injury and perhaps lifelong disability. Road traffic crashes are predictableand can be prevented. Many countries have achieved sharp reductions in the numberof crashes and the frequency and severity of traffic-related injuries by addressing keyissues. Interventions that have been proven to be effective include those that dealwith: speeding, seat belt, helmet, child seats and restraint, alcohol test, Road designand infrastructure and Emergency services. Reducing the average traffic speed by 1km/h has been shown to lead to a %5–%4 decrease in fatal crashes. %32 of deathin RTAs consists of pedestrians. Many countries have done some interventions todecrease these shocking statistics. It is time for Iran to apply some new interventionsto improve this situation.