Following the horrific bus accidents in Ankara Polatlı and Malatya, driver negligence is once again on the agenda. While the disasters that occur due to exceeding the speed limit and lack of sleep never stop; a photo reflected from Istanbul is a summary of what happened. The photo taken by Automobile-Highway Specialist Engineer Alpay Lök in İkitelli Organized Industrial Site the other day is also one of the most striking examples of the conditions under which bus drivers and assistants try to listen. Lök, who told the story of the photo to ‘Haberglobal.com.tr’, said the following: “A driver was having repairs done in front of the injector pump repair shop next to my workplace. A cardboard was spread out and a pillow was placed in front of our shop. The person who did this was one of the drivers of the bus. Now I ask: is this quality sleep and can this driver rest like this and get back on the road?”
18 TIMES THAT OF GERMANY
On the other hand, after the disaster images reflected from Polatlı and today from Malatya, the toll of bus accidents in Turkey has also emerged. According to statistics, the number of deaths in bus accidents across the country is 18.5 times higher than in Germany and 2.3 times higher than in the European Union, which has a population of 550 million.
7 THOUSAND BUSES ON THE ROAD
Stating that everyone should stop and think about the increasing death rates, Alpay Lök shared the following striking information in continuation of his warnings: “While the number of buses registered for intercity travel in Turkey increased by 63 percent from 2021 to 2023, the number of buses, which was 4 thousand 3 thousand in 2021, exceeded 7 thousand by the end of 2023. While traffic deaths in Turkey will decrease until 2022, It started to rise again starting from 2023. The real serious issue is the cause of the accidents. 59 percent of the accidents are caused by excessive speed and rear-end collisions.”
LET THE TACHOGRAPH GAME END
Lök, who emphasized that all heavy-tonnage vehicles and drivers used in intercity transportation should be monitored instantly with “vehicle tracking systems” supported by camera tracking, also drew attention to the tachograph games on passenger buses and heavy-tonnage vehicles, saying, “Speed limiting equipment installed in buses as factory-installed and set to 100 km/h should be activated, and soaping of tachographs should be prevented. If a 2-axle, 18-ton intercity bus travels at 141 km/h, its kinetic energy is equal to the energy of two buses travelling at 100 km/h, meaning it will be damaged as if two buses hit it instead of one. “It is known that heavy tonnage vehicles often exceed these limits, especially in the Istanbul-Kocaeli, Istanbul-Ankara, Istanbul-Izmir and vice versa,” he said.
SHOULD BE CONSIDERED GRAFTLY FAULTY
“President of TMMOB Chamber of Mechanical Engineers Yunus Yeter stated that speed limiters should be activated in commercial vehicles, adjustments and inspections should be made at appropriate values and as required, and defects related to speed limiter equipment should be urgently regulated as ‘Serious Defects’ during vehicle inspections.“Speed limiters should be set to 85 km/h for trucks and 80 km/h for buses on two-way roads; 85 km/h for trucks and 90 km/h for buses on divided highways; and 90 km/h for trucks and 100 km/h for buses on highways, and continuity of inspections should be ensured,” he said.
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