
Unsafe roads and inequality in rural areas / Keyomars Amiri
A look at the way of life of humans from the beginning until now is indicative of the fact that transportation has played and continues to play a very important role in human life.
The essential need for movement and transportation throughout human life has been inevitable, and the speed and capacity of carrying goods in travels has always been a concern for human societies. Since the day humans recognized themselves, the need for movement and transportation has been deemed necessary for the continuation of their lives. For this purpose, they first turned to animals and domesticated them, using some of them to serve as a means to easily move themselves and their belongings. Animals such as horses, due to their agility and speed, received more attention and played a very important role in human life. Alongside them, animals such as cows, donkeys, camels, and any other animal capable of being ridden and carrying loads were also utilized. As humans continued their lives, they made efforts and with determination, built roads and discovered and invented various means of transportation; from steam engines to ships, trains, and airplanes, which have advanced our lives but also made them more complicated and mechanical. The necessity of transportation over time has
Nowadays, the production and use of various means of transportation, which are made and paid for by humans one after another, have played such an important role in our daily lives that it seems impossible to do without them; because the lack of any of these means of transportation such as cars, motorcycles, airplanes, trains, and ships will cause widespread disruption in our lives.
Although the history of road construction, highways, and means of transportation in the world and Iran dates back centuries before Christ, the Silk Road, which was one of the important historical routes in the world and connected the Far East to Europe and the Middle East, was established around 100 BC during the Parthian era. However, road construction and transportation in Iran began to be taken seriously during the Pahlavi dynasty, starting in 1924. The Ministry of Agriculture, Trade, and Public Works, which was established during the reign of Naser al-Din Shah and continued under the name of “Roads and Streets,” changed its name to “Ministry of Roads and Transportation” in 1934 and from then on, road construction became a major focus and responsibility. In 2011, the Ministry of Roads and Transportation merged with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development and became the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, continuing its work.
Unsafe roads, inequality challenges, and social damages
Unfortunately, evidence and indications show that road problems in Iran have turned into a major issue in recent years; an issue that, in addition to numerous transportation-related problems, causes immeasurable economic damages and claims the lives of thousands of people annually in road accidents, leaving many more injured, disabled, and permanently confined to their homes.
According to the report of the Iranian Legal Medicine Organization, in the first six months of the year 1402, only 10,720 people lost their lives and thousands more were disabled or injured as a result of road accidents in the country. This number is nearly 25 times higher than the number of deaths due to road accidents in a country like Japan, which has a population almost half of Iran’s. These road accidents are caused by factors such as non-standard roads and highways, lack of supervision and maintenance by relevant authorities, and poor quality and non-standard road signs produced in Iran. Additionally, the lack of proper and systematic supervision and control by traffic police is also a contributing factor.
In addition to these problems, it should be mentioned that many villages in the country suffer from extremely poor road conditions. Some rural and remote areas lack transportation routes, forcing students to travel through difficult terrain or use risky means of transportation to get to school on a daily basis.
In this regard, we can refer to the transportation situation of male and female students in the Helashi district of Kermanshah city. The writer is aware that in this district, students from several villages have been using minibuses for a long time to go to school, whose drivers lacked all necessary documents such as a driver’s license, passenger insurance, technical inspection, etc., and paid little attention to traffic rules and regulations. There was also no presence of traffic police on that route to supervise this matter. The lack of roads and transportation facilities in many remote villages in provinces like Kermanshah has caused many children to be unable to attend school and remain illiterate forever. Although in recent years, many efforts have been made to build rural roads, due to the vastness of rural areas and lack of sufficient budget, many rural areas in Kermanshah province are still deprived of having suitable roads, and in today’s world where a large part of life is dependent on
It is also necessary to mention the Kermanshah road to Osmanvand district, known as the Kermanshah-Kuhdasht road project. Upon completion, this project would cover dozens of large and mountainous villages in this district and save it from isolation. It would also connect to Kuhdasht county and reduce the distance between Kermanshah and Kuhdasht, as well as other provinces such as Lorestan and Ilam, by more than 100 kilometers. However, this project has been abandoned for years due to lack of budget, despite the millions of tomans spent on excavation and construction of several bridges to provide infrastructure. As a result, the deprived villages of Osmanvand district continue to face numerous problems due to the lack of access to a suitable road.
In this regard, a short conversation was held with one of the residents of Osmanvand village named Mr. Sharafiani. Mr. Sharafiani, with a sad face and a tired body, tends to a small number of goats and sheep as a shepherd. He talks about the need for peace, saying: “One of our biggest problems is the lack of roads. Because of the lack of roads, the combine harvester does not come to our village and we are forced to pay several times the usual rate to the combine drivers to convince them to work for us. But even then, they are usually not satisfied to come to many of our farms that are in difficult-to-reach areas, and we are forced to harvest our wheat fields with sickles in a traditional way. This is a very difficult task. In other cases, the situation is the same. For transporting agricultural products and livestock, we always have to pay several times the rent.” He continues, “Our emergency
To reach the village of Osmanvand, one must pass through a non-standard road of 26 kilometers from the city of Kermanshah to the city of Helashi. This road connects Kermanshah to the Firoozabad district and is only 26 kilometers away from the district center. However, it lacks necessary standards and as a result, numerous accidents occur every year, causing death and injury to hundreds of people and significant financial damages, especially for the residents of this district. On this road, one can usually see pickup trucks, Peugeot or Pride cars that serve as school transportation and carry 8 to 10 students each. These vehicles pass through this busy road several times a day without any supervision from authorities, such as the traffic police. It is worth noting that these types of roads are generally lacking essential road markings and signs. Interestingly, this road continues to the Kermanshah-Hililan road, which is connected to the Ahv
It is worth mentioning that there are numerous similar cases in different regions of the country, but overall, the situation of rural residents and students in the villages of Sistan and Baluchestan province is even more tragic. Dealing with the problems of Sistan and Baluchestan, including road issues, requires a separate and detailed opportunity.
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