Turkish police watch TV series to detect fictional traffic rule violations

ISTANBUL

As part of the project that began last October, policemen look into whether the characters in the series are wearing seat belts or obeying red light signals and mobile phone usage rules. Hürriyet photo

Turkish police are monitoring television shows to detect traffic rule violations in programs, regarding TV characters as public examples for viewers.

With this aim, some teams from Traffic Education and Research Department have watched 2,000 TV show episodes in the past 11 months to spot violations.

As part of the project that began last October, policemen look into whether the characters in the series are wearing seat belts or obeying red light signals and mobile phone usage rules. 

After detecting an assortment of violations, officers have contacted the producers and directors of the shows, asking for support. Good examples are also thanked through letters sent to the creators.

“The rate of traffic rule obedience in TV series, which was around 10 percent when we first began the project, has climbed up to 80 percent in a short time,” said Mehmet Kamil Ekmekçi, the branch director of the authorized department, adding that they intended to ensure 100 percent compliance with traffic rules.

Ekmekçi said their next target was to expand the range of their review subjects by adding movies and every television program.

“If our celebrities and artists follow traffic rules in both real life and during filming, our people will also become conscious of the issue,” he said. “Since our people watch TV a lot, they set television actors as examples for themselves.”