Turkish Interior Ministry campaigns for rights of pedestrians in traffic

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

The Interior Ministry has launched a public campaign across the country to raise awareness on protecting pedestrians in traffic.

“The state would do what is necessary to prevent traffic accidents,” Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said in Ankara on Feb. 6 at a demonstration under the motto “Life comes first, pedestrians come first.”

The state’s actions against traffic deaths cannot be limited to imposing fines, he said.

A total of 7,427 people died in traffic accidents in 2017 and 1,681 of them were pedestrians, the minister said, adding that new measures would curb dramatic figures.

Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said during the same event which included a march that the traffic issue plays an important role in raising the quality of life.

“We cannot expect ‘high-quality tourists’ to visit Turkey unless we become a high-quality society,” he said.

Similar activities were held on Feb. 6 elsewhere in the country.

An October 2018 amendment to the law on road traffic prioritized the rights of the pedestrians.