Traffic deadlock as millions return from Eid holiday

ISTANBUL

Millions of people hit the roads across the country on April 23 to return home from coastal provinces or their hometowns where they spent the three-day-long Eid al-Fitr holiday.

Traffic jams occurred from the north to the south as people, either by their own cars or passenger buses, head back home as police authorities said the junctions at the entrances to some provinces witnessed deadlocks.

It took hours to pass through the partial traffic jams on the highways between Istanbul and the capital Ankara, as police have taken special precautions for Istanbul, the most crowded city in the country with a population of more than 15 million people.

In the megacity, where the traffic has come to a standstill in places, the density was measured as 71 percent, according to the municipality’s data.

Istanbul police have warned drivers to be more careful in the traffic during the holiday.

Due to the departures, kilometers-long vehicle queues occurred in touristic sites where people chose to spend their holiday.

The Interior Ministry has sent a circular on traffic measures to be implemented during the Eid al-Fitr holiday, nearly 100,000 police officers will be on duty during the 10-day period.

According to the Interior Ministry’s circular sent to all governor’s offices, heavy traffic measures were taken on the highways as the midterm break of the education period coincided with the Eid-al Fitr holiday, also known as the “Ramadan holiday.”

The measures on the first 20 routes where the most accidents occurred during the holidays in the last three years were planned more elaborately, and teams were assigned to these roads one after the other to leave no uncontrolled area.

Traffic regulation and inspection activities were utilized to maximum effect including helicopter, drone and UAV type aircraft, especially on the dates when the traffic intensified during the holiday.

A total of more than 50,000 teams and almost 100,000 traffic personnel took part, including 7,300 daily traffic crews and 14,000 traffic personnel.