Ankara, Turkey: April 2004
By Bob Smalley - Chief Driving Examiner, RoADA
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| Left to right: Mick Kemp, Umit Uyer, Ahmet Kucukdemir, Oguz Ozturk, and Bob Smalley |
The challenge to adapt the RoSPA Diploma in Advanced Driving Instruction to the roads in and around Ankara, the Turkish capital was set for Mick Kemp, one of RoSPA's senior driving instructors. The Baku -Tbilisi - Ceyhan Pipeline Company (BTC) operated by BP Oil instigated the request for this level of training in order that its workforce could receive externally validated driver development training as part of its commitment to health and safety.
Umit Uyar, general manager of ARGOS a company specialising in off road driver training, based in Ankara arranged the training course for himself and two colleagues, Ahmet Kucukdemir and Oguz Ozturk.
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| Umit's 4x4 rally car that he uses to race in the Turkish Rally Championship. |
Umit has been off road champion of Turkey on a number of occasions. He is heavily involved in rallying and had already supplied off road driver training for BTC and other companies operating in building the oil pipeline through Georgia, Azerbaijan and across over 1,000 kilometres of Northern Turkey. Umit and Oz spoke excellent English, but Ahmet none whatsoever, so this gave Mick a further challenge.
A 2.4 litre Alpha Romeo saloon car was chosen for the training and Mick set about the task with his usual enthusiasm. Week one was focused on adapting Roadcraft to the Turkish driving environment and bringing driving standards up to RoSPA advanced level. He was encouraged by the high standards of all the candidates. Umit with his background, demonstrated precise handling techniques, some of which had already been passed onto Oz and Ahmet. In Mick's own words “They were very sharp and receptive to new ideas, which helped my task considerably”.
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| Overloaded vehicle with two passengers on top. |
As I landed at Ankara Airport at the end of week one to conduct the Advanced Tests and having previously witnessed driving in Turkey, I was somewhat apprehensive as to what to expect. Umit drove the 40-minute drive from the airport to our city centre hotel. Mick, as ever was never off duty, picking Umit up on an unnecessary gear change as we approached a traffic light controlled junction.
I spent most of the following day familiarising myself with what to expect from other drivers in and around Ankara, the road network and the general road user culture. The road system in the main consists of wide dual carriageways, criss-crossing the city, with only single carriageway side streets leading to housing or business premises.
Most junctions are controlled by traffic lights which are constantly ignored by drivers particularly when turning right. At major junctions there are count down lights which indicate how many seconds are left on red before they change to green.
This creates a Grand National type start with drivers jockeying for position and creating as many lanes as is possible at the front. Also on the approach to lights the green light will flash for 10 seconds before changing to red which appears to encourage drivers to slow down when this occurs.
There are few lane markings on any roads, lane discipline is non existent with overtaking and moving from either side of the carriageway constantly taking place around you. The roads are in a poor state of repair with potholes, drains and subsidence being a constant hazard.
The undisciplined lane changing, coupled with attempts to find the best course through the poor road surfaces requires a high degree of concentration, observation and all round skill. I forgot to mention speed; most of the road system is governed by a 50 kilometre limit, but the police prosecution criteria is set at 77 kilometres, so the general flow of all vehicles is around 70 kilometres.
Little consideration has been given to pedestrians, so it is not uncommon to witness elderly people trying to cross eight lanes of a fast flowing dual carriageway.
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| Four car pile-up behind Umit's car. |
With this as a background, a one-hour test route sorted, Umit was my first candidate. I was treated to a “System” drive accompanied by detailed commentary throughout. I felt comfortable and safe in a hostile traffic environment.
The standard to move on to the Diploma stage of the course was easily attained. Oz and Ahmet drove well with everything in place except the practice necessary to produce a consistently polished performance, but they both showed ability to move to the next phase of training.
A week later I was back for the final Diploma Examinations. Mick was anxious to tell me how advanced driving practice had kept them out of a multiple accident.
Apparently they were in the outside lane of a dual carriageway in busy fast flowing traffic when a car three vehicles ahead stopped suddenly for no apparent reason, Umit reacted immediately through good observations and ample space ahead, but the two vehicles ahead had already been involved in rear end shunts.
On checking the mirrors both Mick and Umit realised that the following car was struggling to stop, so Umit moved forward into space he had created ahead of him, enabling the car immediately behind them to stop. Unfortunately, two following vehicles ploughed into the back of each other and the following car. Our crew and trainer came away unscathed.
The written examination, having been translated into Turkish was completed, as were the classroom presentations. Back out on the road Oz took the lead test. Improvement on the previous week was immediately evident with the demonstration drive and instructional aspects well up to the required standard.
Oz then acted as translator for Ahmet who gave a solid performance showing good future potential. I was looking forward to Umit's drive, but he had one of those days where other road users seemed to thwart his driving plans at every opportunity. Nevertheless, his overall performance carried him through.
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| Bob Smalley being interviewed by Turkish TV station, Kanal 5, regarding road conditions and driver attitude. |
During the six tests that I conducted we passed collisions that had recently occurred on four separate occasions, confirming that accidents are commonplace. The police attend all accidents where insurance companies are likely to be involved, so much of their time is taken up with this process.
We now have three Diploma holders in this vast, fast developing country. Motorcar ownership is growing rapidly as is road infrastructure to meet the development demands. Road Safety measures are seriously lacking.
Compulsory wearing of seat belts would significantly reduce in vehicle death and serious injury accidents. Simple, fairly low cost engineering measures, coupled with government backed education and enforcement initiatives would prevent what is inevitably a continuing high price to pay in loss of life and injury on the roads of Turkey.
On a positive note I met Cuneyt Sazer, Safety Advisor for BTC who in the week following the success of our Diploma Holders, will be starting the BP on road Driver Safety Programme. Umit has a regular spot on television covering his off road and rallying events and he and his wife's commitment to road safety will hopefully bring about change in a wider context.
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RoSPA is a registered charity: Registered Charity No: 207823 Patron: Her Majesty the Queen RoSPA Head Office: Edgbaston Park, 353 Bristol Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham B5 7ST, UK |
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