Traffic fines not deterrent enough: Experts

ISTANBUL

The need for deterrent penalties on excessive speeding has once again been emphasized by experts since 1,345 people lost their lives in traffic accidents during the past six months.

Thousands of traffic accidents occur every year in the country, mainly caused by excessive speed, carelessness, disobeying the rules and similar reasons.

Prof. Dr. Mustafa Ilıcalı, director of the Transport Systems Center at Istanbul Ticaret University, suggested that traffic penalties should be more of a deterrent.

“In order to reduce fatal mistakes in traffic, it is extremely necessary to give people awareness and education on this topic at a young age. In addition to education, penalties are not deterrent enough.”

Lawyer Pekay Salmanoğlu also drew attention to the inadequacy of traffic laws and sanctions in the country.

“Although the most important factors in accidents are determined as speed and disobeying the rules, in fact, another main cause is that the penalties do not include deterrent sanctions. It is not enough to confiscate the license of a person driving under the influence in an accident.”

Salmanoğlu pointed out that another factor that can cause accidents in traffic is the use of mobile phones while driving, as the penalty for using phones at the wheel is only a fine.

Confiscation of the driving license for this violation can be a deterrent measure, Salmanoğlu suggested.

According to the General Directorate of Security Affairs' traffic statistics, 971,037 drivers received fines in the past six months.

A total of 257,373 accidents occurred in Türkiye in the last six months, where 1,345 people died and 159,235 were injured.

While there were 4.51 million fines issued because of license plates, there were about 5.5 million traffic fines imposed altogether in the previous six months.