Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 29
By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:
Turkey is making the use of seatbelts on buses mandatory for passengers in order to minimise victims of car accidents, Turkish newspaper HaberTurk wrote on Jan. 29.
The newspaper said it is also intended to decrease the permissible speed of intercity buses and create special devices for this.
Every year over 8000 people are killed in road accidents in Turkey, most of the victims being those aged 15-29, according to official statistics.
Excessive speed is the cause of 34 percent of fatal accidents.
An average of 385,000 has been killed in road accidents in Turkey in 30 years.
Turkey is taking a series of measures to prevent traffic accidents. One such was the introduction of a ban on the sale of seat belt reminder blocking devices. A penalty of 180 Turkish liras will be imposed for the sale of such devices.
Recently, Turkey toughened its penalties for violation of traffic rules. This means the fine for exceeding the set speed limit was increased to 700 liras.
The official exchange rate on Jan. 29 is 2.2670 TRY/USD.
Translated by E.A.
Edited by S.M.