Nationwide Conference on Safety Alliance with Participation of the Clergy | جمعیت طرفداران ایمنی راهها

In line with the cultural and social programs of the Road Safety Supporters Society (RSSS) for reducing traffic injuries and fatalities and in order to prevent the significant overt and covert human, social and economic losses in the country, the nationwide grand conference of “Safety Alliance” was held with the presence and participation of the clergy, ulema and relevant authorities.
According to the Public Relations Office of the Road Safety Supporters Society (RSSS) Hojjatoleslam Mousavi Moqaddam Parliamentary and Provincial Affairs Deputy at IRIB, announced readiness of the ulema and clergy for supporting RSSS and its goals. He said many Quranic verses are available about enjoining the good and paving the way for good deeds a manifestation of which could be the issue of building a healthy society.
He stressed that today subjects that enjoy Quranic status have more objectivity, because at present concepts have been further expanded and the elements of time, place and space compression, have created a new era for human beings.
Mousavi Moqaddam referred to ‘speed’ as the inherent and inseparable feature of the the said mentioned elements and said; “With the development of technology we proceed in a way that in future our children would blame us for how it took us several hours to take a distance, because speed is an important component of time and in all areas everything is affected by speed.”
He added, “If we disregard the question of speed and fail to formulate plans at present or in future, we will be faced with problems that are caused by acceleration and speed such as traffic crashes.”
Mousavi Moqaddam further said: “If we fail to regulate speed and move along accordingly, we will face tremendous backwardness and in that case we will be put under a passive condition.”
The IRIB official further remarked: “The speed of the developments in our country is not in conformity with the speed of irregularities and in terms of speed of development we have been affected by backwardness while with regard to the speed of abnormalities we are ahead of some other countries and if this issue is not resolved we will definitely face chaos and confusion.”
He stated: “We have great assets in our possession, about one-fourth of the Quranic verses are in relation to prevention and observance and this in turn is a great reference for building culture and making our society healthy. For the same reason some countries were faced with problems with regard to the soft war in Iran, because we enjoy strong religious beliefs.”
As for the media, Mousavi Moqaddam said: “Definitely among all the media of the world, the pulpit media which is face to face and the audience have confidence in it, enjoys more influence. Here I would like to quote a statement from Martyr (Morteza) Motahhari (a senior religious scholar who was assassinated early after the 1979 Islamic Revolution) who said: ‘I wonder why the ulema do not issue fatwas about some issues.’ For this reason, the clergy should participate in many affairs and use the pulpit media in their possession.”
He further noted: “If we fail to have new answers to new questions we will be faced with crisis, perhaps for the new technology, new grounds should be prepared.”
In conclusion, Mousavi Moqaddam pointed to the power of emotions in the field of traffic crashes and said: “Many issues, especially traffic crashes should be linked to the people’s emotions and we must impress the people with advertisement, animation, etc.”
Saeed Moeidfar, Advisor to the Road and Urban Development Ministry in Social Affairs, referring to the fact that in Iran weekly traffic crash losses are equivalent to the fatalities of a wide-bodied aircraft crash, said: “43% of those killed in traffic crashes are between 20 and 40 years old and men who lose their lives are 3.4% more than women which means that the age and gender ratio of the population who die in traffic crashes are gradually changing and this is alarming.”
Moeidfar cited the important role three elements of roads, vehicles and human error play in traffic crashes and noted that behavior of the drivers is a cultural element, while the impact of cultural factors, even with regard to the road and vehicle, is comprehensive.
He stressed: “To the same extent that safety in the society is taken into consideration, to the same extent we feel responsibility in road building and auto manufacturing.”
The advisor to the Minister of Road and Urban Development further remarked that the issue of safety should be observed by all the people involved in road safety and called for further attention to the issue of safety.
At the beginning of the conference, RSSS President Mohammad Bokharaei by mentioning that this is the fourth grand nationwide conference on “Safety Alliance” which is being held on the eve of the New Year, said: “So far three grand nationwide ‘Safety Alliance’ conferences have been held with the presence of three effective groups of professional drivers, socially active women and students with the participation of those involved in safety in scientific and executive fields.”
Bokharaei said the pivotal slogan of the current conference is “recommending safety, enjoining to good” and added that transportation is the platform for economic development, but today transportation is faced with safety challenge and traffic crashes.
Saying that in 1384 (2005/06) the number of traffic crash deaths in the country was 28 thousand people, he said by the end of 1393 (2014/2015), the figure dropped to 17 thousand, but the point is that even one death in traffic crashes is high.
The RSSS head while referring to the fact that each year 1.2 million people lose their lives in traffic crashed in the world noted that Iran constitutes one percent of the world population but its share of traffic crash casualties is 40% more than the average while 24% of the casualties are women.
He reminded that annually 700 thousand traffic crashes occur in the country and one-third of hospital beds are allocated to the victims of driving accidents to the extent that according to the estimates by 1399 (2020/2021), an average 25% of the health budget of the countries would go to victims of traffic crashes.
Bokharaei added that annually over 250 thousand households are driven towards poverty as a result of traffic crashes, adding that one-third of the victims are married and this means that annually 6000 women lose their patrons.
The RSSS head regarded human error responsible for 70% of traffic crashes and said in 1392 (2013/14), some 4168 pedestrians lost their lives in traffic crashes while 22.3% of the crashes are caused by motorcyclists.
According to the official, 300 thousand people are injured in traffic crashes annually of which 30 thousand become disabled for life.
While inviting people to further observe safety regulations in driving, Bokharaei stressed that the clergy and seminary students should be designated as safety ambassadors.
It should be noted that in this conference Adib Yazdi, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Road Safety Supporters Society, also addressed the conference.