Over 50,000 Istanbul drivers fined after violations spotted by surveillance cameras

Çetin AYDIN – ISTANBUL

More than 50,000 drivers using Istanbul roads received fines within a month’s period between February and March after traffic violations were spotted by the Electronic Traffic Control System (EDS), which has recently been put into effect. 

Some 50,304 drivers were given a total penalty of 11.1 million Turkish Liras ($2.9 million) worth of fines by the Istanbul Traffic Inspection Directorate between Feb. 8 and March 10.

Teams identified the violators by using the surveillance system, located in 455 spots across the city.

The number one reason drivers were fined turned out to be their violation of emergency lanes 

More than 17,000 drivers violated the rule by using the lane without being in an emergency situation, the system found. They were fined 235 liras ($61) each.

Over 12,000 drivers were fined 235 liras each for going over the speed limit by up to 30 percent. Some 1,700 people exceeded the speed limit by above thirty percent and were fined 488 liras ($126) each.

Some 349 people were penalized for entering tram lanes, being fined 108 liras each.

Another 8,811 people were fined for not stopping at a red light and were fined 235 liras each for the infringement.

The penalty papers were sent to their addresses.

The number of fatal traffic accidents in Turkey decreased by 53.3 percent between July 1 and 19, 2017, compared to the same period the year before, thanks to the newly-introduced monitoring and imaging system for traffic, Turkish national police announced on July 20, 2017.

In order to monitor traffic law and prevent people from speeding on the roads, the EDS was developed and put into execution on July 1, 2017, said the statement from the national police.