The First Professional Drivers Safety Alliance Festival was held at the IRB Convention Center (December 19) in the presence of Minister of Roads and Urban Development, his deputies, Roads Police Commander, a number of directors and deputies of the Roads Maintenance and Transportation Organization and about 700 professional drivers.
Mohammad Bokharaei, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Road Safety Supporters Society (RSSS) welcoming the audience said the permanent secretariat of the Professional Drivers Safety Alliance Festival will be set up after Nowruz 1396 (New Iranian Year starting March 21, 2017).
He said the next year selection of drivers will be held at provincial level, adding that after selecting safe drivers out of 31 provincial festivals, a safety festival will be held on April 26 and top professional drivers will be introduced at national level.
Stating that currently there are over 2.5 million professional drivers with membership in the safety campaign, he added that the target of this festival is to reduce road casualties by half so that by the end of the Sixth and Seventh Development Plans the number of road traffic deaths will be cut by another 11 thousand.
Bokharaei noted that the public culture is indebted to the drivers, adding that in order to promote the dignity of the drivers from now on we will call them “honest leaders”. He said the philosophy behind naming this festival is success of all those involved in the field of road transportation.
He added: “This year 1400 drivers participated in the festival which is a considerable figure and we expect more participants in the next events and all the drivers would be honored as top and safe drivers.”
Also addressing the forum, Minister of Roads and Urban Development Abbas Akhundi said thanks to the cooperation of all the executive bodies and responsible drivers, over the past 10 years the number of deaths in road crashes has been reduced by 11 thousand.
He added that currently, the number of motor vehicles in the country has reached about 28 million and almost every Iranian family owns a car. “This has made the task of the authorities in promoting road traffic safety even more difficult.”
He stressed that papplication of smart management on the roads and use of 1800 surveillance cameras in the country as well as the smart system for the close control of drivers’ behavior is highly important in order to reduce the high-risk behavior of the drivers and crashes on the roads.
Unnderlining the need for introducing more stringent regulations in the process of issuing driving license, Dr. Akhundi added that this issue has been put on the agenda of the Road Safety Commission so that by taking more strict steps in the process, the drivers’ high-risk behavior on the roads will be minimized.
Meanwhile, Engineer Davoud Keshavarzian, Deputy Minister of Roads and Urban Development and Head of the Road Maintenance and Transportation Organization referred to the factors effective in reducing road crashes and said the issue of road casualties and crashes is a social issue and social institutions should get involved in order to reduce the casualties.
Noting that one of the main plans of the Roads Maintenance and Transportation Organization is promotion of road safety, he said in addition to installation of traffic violation monitoring systems and vehicle control smart systems, new regulations for registration of transportation companies, branding and promoting quality of services of cargo and passenger transportation companies, all aim at safety matters.
Keshavarzian, emphasizing that the topic of safety should be turned into a culture noted that it is hoped all road transportation activists will bring people more safety by improving the traffic culture,.
Road traffic police commander, Mohammad Hossein Hamidi, was another speaker who said reduction in the number of road casualties in Iran shows that drivers play an effective role in reducing crashes.
He said there is more than 200 thousand km of road in the country the control of which as well as the behavior of drivers is not an easy task.
The Police Commander said 400 cities in the country possess traffic and driving structure and 800 cities are controlled by surveillance cameras.
At the end of the ceremony, golden tablets were awarded to ten selected professional drivers and crystal tablets to another 20 top drivers.

Public Relations Office
Road Safety Supporters Society