by Farhad Nadim, Amvrossios C. Bagtzoglou, Ali Afshar, Jamshid Iranmahboob, Mohammad Reza Monazzam, and Masoud Yunesian
Numerous studies in Iran have proven that air pollution is directly associated with acute and chronic cardiopulmonary diseases in large urban areas. Oxides of nitrogen (NOx), CO, emitted mainly by vehicles; soot and suspended particulate matter resulting form burning of fossil fuels; and secondary pollutant O3 are the main pollutants in Iran’s urban atmospheric environments. While Iran’s large cities suffer from atmospheric pollution and its associated health impacts, the often ignored road traffic accidents that take the lives of more than 30,000 individuals each year pose a real and serious challenge for policy makers and transport authorities. In this paper, air pollution and its impacts on public health in Iran’s large urban areas are discussed and measures taken by government authorities to curb sources of air pollution are described. Traffic-related accidents and their social and economical impacts are introduced with the aid of basic statistics. It is argued that transport management in Iran can not be confined to policy initiatives aimed at reducing pollution emissions from motor vehicles; rather a dual approach, curtailing air pollution and traffic accidents concurrently seems to be the only sustainable strategy for the transport sector in Iran.
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