Introduction: Since its inception, the automobile industry has been widely welcomed and developed all over the world because of its tangible efficiency. This industry has resulted in traffic accidents, which have become one of the most significant social issues worldwide today, resulting in millions of lives being destroyed or injured annually. The rate of traffic accidents and deaths has become an acute social issue in Iran due to the rapid expansion of the automobile industry and roads and streets. Theoretically, traffic accident fatalities are explained by a variety of factors. However, the influence of modern communication technologies, such as the Internet and mobile phones, on traffic accidents and fatalities at a macro level has not been given much attention in Iran. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship between the mobile phone and internet technologies and traffic accident fatalities at a macro level from 1991 to 2022.
Method: A time-series method was made use of in this quantitative longitudinal research to examine the relationship between mobile phone and the internet penetration variables and traffic accident fatalities in Iran from 1991-2022. To assess traffic accidents, the index of urban traffic accident deaths per 100,000 populations was employed. In order to measure mobile phone penetration, the number of mobile phone subscribers was utilized as an index. Finally, to measure the internet penetration, the number of internet users was used. The required data were collected from the Statistical Center of Iran (SCI), the Iranian Legal Medicine Organization (ILMO), and the World Bank (WB). To analyze both short-term and long-term relationships, the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model was employed utilizing Microfit software version 5.
Findings: According to the research findings, in the long-term relationships, with the increase in the number of mobile phone subscriptions, the number of traffic accident fatalities has significantly increased (Prob.=0.000; T-Ratio=10.4; Coefficient=0.44). Moreover, the findings of the research indicate that the number of traffic accident fatalities has decreased in the long run as a result of the increase in internet penetration rate (Prob. =0.000; T-Ratio=-7.8; Coefficient=0.37).
Conclusion: The present study concludes that modern mobile phone and the internet communication technologies are affecting traffic accident casualties in Iran, which is a significant social issue. However, their effects are not the same. The increase in mobile phone usage has led to an increase in traffic accident casualties, but the increase in internet usage has resulted in a reduction in traffic accident casualties.