Having lived almost eight years in Turkey, I can say that Turkish drivers are among the worst I’ve seen anywhere in the world, although not as bad as Saudis behind the wheel. These signs used to be everywhere around the country, not that anybody paid any attention to them. But drawing on the signs, I had years ago written a full-page article for the Turkish newspaper I worked for at the time, which started out:
Taming Turkey's traffic monster: An exercise in futility?
How is it that Turks, who are without doubt among the warmest, most hospitable people in the world, can turn into such 'trafik canavarı' behind the wheel of a car?
HELEN BETTS
Ankara - Turkish Daily News
It never fails. I'm sitting at a stoplight, waiting for a green signal to send me on my way, and at the very moment it changes, a pedestrian starts to walk against the light. I've often wondered what causes this seemingly national compulsion to go against what to me, at least, is logical, considerate and safe. This pedestrian dilemma brings to mind the whole driving situation in Turkey, which, in my opinion, boils down to anarchy on the roads. And yet, much to my chagrin, I find that I myself have had to alter my own driving and walking habits in order to fit in to and survive in this peculiarly Turkish way of getting around on the roads.
Some Turkish drivers apparently believe that their fate is written on their foreheads, giving them free license to drive recklessly on inter-city roads. They speed along on the wrong side of the highway, pass on curves and on the crests of hills, showing no regard for the other motorists who might not believe that their foreheads mention anything about dying that day.
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Best to view in "Original" because other versions resized by Pbase are decidedly unsharp.
Slow-mo, posted earlier