FETHIYE, Turkey - High temperatures, bright sunshine and clear skies spell
happiness for tourists but a nightmare for those who work in Turkey's public
transportation. Last week, the crew of an Atlas Jet flight from Siirt to
Istanbul and booked with 70 passengers and their luggage learned that the
departing runway had reached melting point.
The outside temperature of 40 degrees Celsius meant that the pilot's only
option for a safe takeoff was to take half the passengers off. All 70 were
weighed and then 34 of the passenger were allowed to board, but they had to
agree to leave their luggage behind. At a total weight of only 2,380 kilograms,
the average svelte passenger that made it to Istanbul that day weighed only
68kg.
The same problem is affecting roads all over the country. In the
past month there have been three reports of roads melting. On June 16, reports
came in of the highway between the large western cities of Aydin and Izmir
melting when the temperature again reached 40 degrees.
Emergency teams had to be called in to pour sand and gravel on the liquefied
areas and drivers were forced to abide by strict speed restrictions. In
southeast Turkey, on the road between Viransehir and Ceylanpinar in Sanliurfa
province, on June 28 the heat made the road so sticky that those that tried to
walk on it found their shoes stuck to the tar.
The residents of Kinik village were once very happy to be part of the
government's Koydes project - which invests in improving fresh water
availability and roads in rural areas - but less happy at the beginning of this
month when their new road melted. As the melted avenue is also the main street
that runs through the center of the village, residents must roll up their pant
legs and walk across it. Wealthier countries that encounter extreme
temperatures like Saudi Arabia make their roads from concrete to avoid the
problem of melting.
These incidents are only part of the serious problems on Turkeys highways and
byways. There is an even greater danger that lurks all over the country - micir
(or gravel). Micir is used not only as a stop-gap and temporary road
surface when melting occurs but is the predominant road surface throughout the
country.
Only 20% of Turkey's roads are entirely asphalt. The majority of national roads
are a combination of asphalt and concrete with a gravel top. The KGM
(Directorate of Roads and Highways) spreads a relatively thin and expensive
layer of hot, sticky bitumous asphalt and then a thicker layer of crumbly
gravel. This is what gives most roads their distinctive gray color. The two
products are crushed together by steamrollers. The name for this type of road
surface is Sahti and compared to full asphalt it is relatively inexpensive. But
is it safe?
Drivers don't seem to think so and every year the media carry reports of fatal
accidents with headlines like "Gravel kills again". The most recent was the
tragic case of 23-year-old Derya Guler who was taking her family out for a
pleasure drive in Balikesir area in April. She and her father were in the front
and her mother and two siblings in the back when she hit an area of gravel and
lost control of the car. The car flew into the oncoming traffic and Derya and
her father Recep both lost their lives.
The hypothesis put forward is that the gravel makes skidding much more likely
and that Sahti roads break up at the edges rapidly meaning that anyone forced
off the road is likely to have the force of their trajectory compounded.
Despite the anecdotal evidence, statistical evaluations seem to put the fault
with drivers whose own errors cause 97% of accidents. Hicabi Ece, former
director of the KGM, defended his colleagues: "We work under difficult
conditions. While the road is being asphalted we are obliged to keep it open to
traffic and despite signs warning drivers that there are roadworks, or that
they are driving on a new road surface, they don't drop their speeds. That's
what leads to accidents."
But, Ekrem Bulgun of the Turkish Traffic Safety Charity claims that 90% of the
fault in accidents lies with the KGM's road-laying methods. According to Bulgun
the KGM often skips the vital step of steamrolling. "In no other country in the
world do they spread gravel on a road and then wait for cars to grind it in,"
he said.
His views are backed by a member of Istanbul's Besiktas council, Ahmet Yoldar,
who says KGM neither steamrolls nor sweeps excess gravel off the roads. Still,
Yoldar blames bad driving: "Despite the neglect by the KGM this doesn't cause
accidents. Those accidents that hit the headlines generally take place between
three and four am and this shows that they are caused by driver error."
Things may be improving, however. Hicabi Ece was much respected for the
improvements he brought to Turkey's roads. In his two decades as head of the
KGM, he created 9,159 kilometers of fully paved roads. His successor, Cahit
Turhan, is even more ambitious: in five years he plans to increase this to
14,500 kilometers.
In the meantime, unfortunately, driving in hot weather in Turkey is still
likely to leave you with sticky tires and a gravel-chipped paint job.
Fazile Zahir is of Turkish descent, born and brought up in London. She
moved to live in Turkey in 2005 and has been writing full time since then.
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