"Drunk-With-Power" Volunteer Traffic Inspector Terrorizes Drivers in Trabzon

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Sözcü Newspaper, 25 June 2021)

                       Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

In Akçaabat, Trabzon, B.T., a volunteer traffic inspector (!), sat in front

of his shop on Adnan Menderes Boulevard and wrote tickets for 633 

vehicles over the course of 50 days, amounting to 2,186,587 TL (about

$240,000) in fines.  B.T. charged the "violators" with abusing the 

street's safety lane, reserved for police and ambulances.

However, there was a resulting outcry from the fined drivers, who 

asserted that the lane in question can be used for right turns.  An

investigation was launched and B.T. was fired for abusing his authority

to write traffic tickets. 

//collateral information from English newspaper Daily Sabah// 

Volunteer traffic inspectors are unpaid civilians tasked with reporting

any violation of traffic safety rules. Anyone at the age of 40 and above,

who has held a driving license for at least 10 years and who does not

have any previous suspension of a driving license is eligible for the

job. Last month, a driver in the southern province of Kahramanmaraş

claimed a volunteer traffic inspector issued him a fine for parking his

minibus in front of his own house, claiming that he was parking his

minibus in an area closed to parking.

Volunteer inspectors are not authorized to issue fines on their own;

they can only report violations to traffic police. They are allowed to

report any safety violations everywhere they are spotted, regardless

of their place of residence or work. They are also not allowed to

interact with drivers violating rules and are not authorized to stop

vehicles. The job is generally viewed as a pastime for pensioners.