Traffic measures tighten ahead of Eid holiday

ANKARA

The Interior Ministry has sent a circular to all governor’s offices 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 circular outlined for the period starting from today until April 24, heavy traffic measures will be taken on the highways as the midterm break of the education period coincides with the Eid-al Fitr holiday, also known as the “Ramadan holiday,” which begins today as the holy month of Ramadan has come to an end.

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

Traffic regulation and inspection activities will be utilized to maximum effect including helicopter, drone and UAV type aircrafts, especially on the dates when the traffic will intensify during the holiday.

In order to draw attention to the importance of using seat belts, posters prepared with the motto “We trust you on this road” will be placed on the roadside.

A total of more than 50,000 teams and almost 100,000 traffic personnel will take part, including 7,300 daily traffic crews and 14,000 traffic personnel, the circular said.

During the inspections, drivers will be warned not to speed, not to use mobile phones, to give way to passers-by in school areas and pedestrian crossings, to comply with lane usage and vehicle tracking rules, to slow down when approaching intersections and to take a ten-minute break every two hours.

Additional traffic measures will be taken with the contribution of general service personnel to ensure pedestrian safety in areas such as martyrdoms, cemeteries and shopping centers, where pedestrian traffic is expected to intensify along with vehicles.