Addressing a seminar on traffic, Moqaddam reasoned that rising gasoline prices prompt the public to use public transportation more often—and that reduces traffic and, consequently, road rage.
Higher gasoline prices also help to reduce the volume of road accidents and highway deaths, he said.
“We agree with increasing the price of fuel so that public transport is promoted and road fatalities decrease,” he told the seminar.
The Islamic Republic is very concerned that Iran be seen as an advancing country. Moqad-dam said one of the key measures of the advancement of any society is a decline in the scale of road accidents. “Through this, one can assess the level of development in a country,” he declared.
He did not say where he got that idea. Generally, road fatalities are lower in Europe and North America than elsewhere in the world. But the Islamic Republic does not hold up Europe and North America as societies that should serve as examples for Iranians.
Moqaddam also said that no society could succeed in pushing down road accidents by using “rigid” rules. He said success was dependent on a society’s economic, scientific and cultural progress.