Traffic accident numbers drop in Turkey despite holiday exodus

Thousands of people hit the road over the weekend across Turkey as the nine-day Qurban Bayram, also known as Eid al-Adha, came to an end. The Interior Ministry said that despite the busy traffic, the number of accidents, a staple of the commencement and end of the holiday, decreased.

Minister Süleyman Soylu announced on his social media account on Sunday that the rate of traffic accidents decreased 29%, compared to other lengthy holidays in the past decade, while the fatal accidents’ rate decreased by 55%.

The minister noted that some 801,000 vehicles crossed the Bolu mountain passage, the busiest route on holidays connecting the big cities in the west to the Anatolian heartland, while some 760,000 vehicles used the same route for the return home to western cities in the past days. He urged drivers to comply with traffic safety rules.

On Sunday, 30 people were injured when a bus toppled over the roadside in the central province of Kayseri. The bus was carrying holidaymakers from the southern city of Mersin, who spent the holiday on a tour of the Black Sea region in the north. The injured are being treated at hospitals in Kayseri. Rıfkı Can, one of the passengers, told Anadolu Agency (AA) that the bus first hit a road sign and the driver lost control of the vehicle as he tried to prevent it from veering off the road. “He was most probably asleep behind the wheel,” he said.

Since the start of the holiday last week, 31 people have been killed and many others injured in accidents across the country in the first five days of the holiday.

Thousands of people are either visiting their loved ones or going to vacation spots during this year’s nine-day bayram holiday. Despite the measures, many traffic accidents occur due to overspeeding, reckless driving and congestion on the roads. To dissuade drivers from breaking road safety laws, the Interior Ministry issued directives to the governorates of 81 provinces, primarily to increase the presence of traffic police units throughout the nation.

For the duration of the holiday, more than 210,000 members of the security forces were on duty to monitor adherence to regulations, including the use of seat belts.

According to official figures, more than 1.1 million accidents occurred across Turkey in 2021, which is higher than the 2019 and 2020 figures but lower than 2018. Nevertheless, only 187,963 accidents resulted in deaths or injuries. More than 3,500 people die every day on the roads, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which declared 2021-2030 as the Decade of Action for Road Safety, with the target of preventing at least 50% of road traffic deaths and injuries by 2030. WHO has said nearly 1.3 million deaths are preventable in traffic accidents yearly, describing accidents as a major cause of death globally.

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