Trend of Traffic Accidents and Fatalities in Iran over 20 Years (1993-2013)

Background and Every year 1.2 million people die and 50 million people are injured in road accidents in the world. Iran is a country with a high rate of death due to traffic accidents. According to the latest reports by Iran’s Department of Forensic Medicine in 2012, 19089 deaths occurred and more than 318 thousand people suffered from mild and severe injuries caused by traffic accidents. This study aimed to investigate the trend and incidence of traffic accidents and their consequences for two decades. In this study data was collected using the World Health Organization reports about car accidents (published in 2013), reports by Iran’s Ministry of Health and Medical Education, and Department of Forensic Medicine. An increasing trend of deaths and injuries due to traffic accidents was found between1993-2006. The rate of mortality was the highest during 2005-2006 and 28,00 deaths occurred in these years. However, this trend has been declining since 2007. Compared to previous years the rate of mortality from traffic accidents is now somewhat reduced, however, this rate is still higher than many countries in the region and the world, therefore, further preventive measurements are required in order to reduce the incidence of death and injury due to road accidents.