Downward trend in road accidents in Türkiye

ANKARA

As per the data of the General Directorate of Security, some 313,000 road accidents occurred in the first eight months of this year across Türkiye, where a total of 1.18 million accidents happened in 2021.

According to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK), some 1.18 million accidents occurred on the country’s roads last year, slightly down from 1.2 million accidents in 2018.

While the data of the General Directorate of Security revealed that 313,000 traffic accidents occurred since the beginning of this year, a significant decrease was observed compared to last year.

A total of 313,618 accidents occurred on the country’s roads from January to September, TÜİK’s data showed.

The number of fatal accidents stood at 1,216 in the first eight months of 2022.

According to the report, over 127,000 road accidents happened due to drivers’ failure, while another 14,000 occurred due to pedestrians’ fault.

Some 600 accidents occurred because of poor road conditions, while passengers were responsible for over 2,000 accidents. Nearly 3,600 accidents occurred due to vehicle failure.

The authority also noted that nearly 40,000 accidents happened as drivers failed to adjust their vehicles’ speed to the road, weather and traffic conditions.

Nearly 100,000 passenger cars were involved in accidents, which resulted in fatalities and injuries, followed by motorcycles at 37,000 and pick-up trucks at nearly 30,000.

Some 5,700 bicycles were also involved in such road accidents.

In the first eight months of this year, the highest number of deaths from traffic accidents was in the metropolitan city of Istanbul, as 87 people lost their lives. It was followed by the southern province of Antalya with 84 deaths.

According to the report, 14.39 million fines were issued during this period, including pedestrian, passenger, driver and license plate, while the plates were the most penalized with 11.86 million.

Over the past 10 years, the highest casualties in traffic accidents were recorded in 2015, with 7,500 deaths.

Some 1.186 million traffic accidents occurred in Türkiye in 2021, according to TÜİK, while some 998,000 were with material loss and nearly 188,000 involved death or injury.

The number of people killed in traffic accidents in 2021 increased by 10.2 percent compared to 2020, the year the world was gripped by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Compared to 2020, there were also increases in the rate of total accidents by 20.6 percent, and those involving death or injury by 25.1 percent,” the institute noted.

Meanwhile, according to the information compiled from the written and online press archives, over 120,000 news stories related to road accidents were reported this year.