As you travel around Turkey you
will probably notice a car pulled to the side of the road
and a large rock or a pile of rocks on the road about 10 meters
behind the car instead of the driver turning on the car's
emergency lights. Watch out! Either the car has broken down
or there has been an accident.
You probably have also noticed that Turkish drivers routinely
ignore traffic regulations, including driving through red
lights and stop signs and making left turns starting from
the far right hand lane. These driving practices cause frequent
traffic accidents. Another cause of road accidents in many
countries is drunkenness.
Many Western visitors to Turkey are caught by surprise when
realizing that you can obtain alcoholic drinks so easily.
Susan from Maine wrote the following note:
Dear Charlotte: I love Turkey. I must admit
that I was so surprised that wine, beer and other liquor is
sold so freely here. I didn't expect this … Many places
in the Middle East and other parts of the Muslim world ban
the sale of alcohol, but not Turkey. This got me to wondering
if there are any programs in country available like Alcoholics
Anonymous to help individuals who develop a dependency on
alcohol … From: Susan (Maine)
Dear Susan: You are not the first to notice
this. My guess is that the sale of alcohol became legal when
the republic was established. If any Turkish readers know
for sure how the legal sale of alcohol came about send us
a comment.
It is interesting that Turkey has become known
for its “raki culture.” Wine is produced in the
northwest, the Marmara region and the Central Anatolia region.
You'll also notice the cans and bottles of the local beer,
Efes Pilsen, everywhere. Some things just don't make any sense.
Nobody seems to know what percentage of road
accidents in Turkey -- which has an extremely high road accident
rate -- are related to drunk driving.
With a population of more than 70 million people,
approximately 500,000 car accidents and 77,000 injuries occur
per year according to the statistics used by the Turkish Statistics
Institute (TurkStat). With alcoholic drinks so easily available,
some wonder what percentage of road accidents occur because
of drunken driving. The facts are just not known.
One thing we do know is that every single injury
and death caused by drunk driving is totally preventable.
The driver can prevent an accident caused by
drunk driving by choosing to walk or get a ride rather than
drive.
Often I receive letters from foreign residents
in Turkey expressing disgust with justice in the country where
they live. It is not uncommon to hear about individuals who
manage to escape stiff penalties because they are wealthy
and can settle on a sum of money, whereas the poor settle
in jail. To be fair this type of sentencing does occur elsewhere
too.
Recently, an American pro football player was
driving his car while drunk when he hit a man running across
the street to catch a bus. His punishment was to pay a lot
of money to the family of the deceased and spend a month in
jail. Just imagine if the shoe had been on the other foot.
While visiting America I learned that death by murder
and death by drunk driving in the US runs about the same on
a national basis. Even though the proportion of crashes caused
by those driving under the influence (DUI) has dropped dramatically
in the past decade or so, it still remains a serious national
problem that tragically affects many victims daily.
During the summertime many young people find
themselves idle, with more free time than they know what to
do with. In America, according to the New York State Department
of Motor Vehicles, drivers 20 years old or younger are almost
three times more likely to be involved in alcohol-related
fatal crashes than other drivers. Drunken driving wrecks lives.
New York State has started to take young people's
drinking offenses seriously. A prevention program for teens
called “Choices and Consequences” to deal with
drunk and reckless driving has been established. A similar
program here may be helpful.
I wish all of my readers a safe, happy and
healthy summer holiday.
“Know the true value of time; snatch,
seize, and enjoy every moment of it. No idleness; no laziness;
no procrastination; never put off till tomorrow what you can
do today.”
