Hundreds of school buses banned from traffic across Turkey

ANKARA

A total of 599 school buses have been banned from traffic across Turkey following inspections carried out on Dec. 18.

The Interior Ministry said in a statement that 32,281 school buses were inspected as part of new measures to protect school children.

Among them, 361 buses were fined for not complying with regulations, 104 drivers were penalized for not wearing seatbelts as 188 others violated the regulation by carrying passengers over capacity.

Criminal action was taken against a total of 4,644 vehicles and drivers and administrative fines amounting to 844,308 Turkish Liras (roughly 160,000$) were charged. Officials said 599 school buses were banned from traffic due to insufficiency.

Almost 17,000 school vicinities and 367,014 people around schools were inspected, the ministry said.

Moreover, 25,950 public places were controlled and administrative actions were taken against 141 of them.

Six unlicensed guns and blank cartridge guns, a long-barrel weapon, 20 hunting rifles, one gram of heroine, 296 grams of cannabis and six grams of synthetic drugs were confiscated during controls.

On Oct. 24, four Turkish ministries announced that new measures would be taken for security on school buses in the wake of recent incidents that had raised concerns regarding children’s safety and well-being.