Turkish Road Warrior Driving Tips

Here are my specific Turkish road warrior driving tips culled from my tens of thousands of kilometers driven in Turkey over 40 years.

Turkish Drivers
Bus and large-truck drivers are mostly experienced professionals who will cause you few problems, except that on two-lane roads you may have to overtake them frequently.

Auto drivers vary from courteous, highly-skilled, experienced, aware drivers to those at the far, far end of the scale: reckless, inattentive, unskilled, emotional. Most Turkish drivers, I'm happy to admit, are not bad: some skill, some courtesy, but driving habits are most probably different (perhaps quite different) from those you're used to at home.

On the Highway
Turkish drivers tend to ignore marked lanes. They wander across several lanes, usually without using turn signals. Many are situationally aware and will move into a lane to allow you to overtake them, but don't depend on it. Flash your headlights and/or honk your horn if you think they don't see you.

Expect very slow vehicles (cars, farm tractors, etc.) as well as vehicles going at very high speed. The high-speed drivers may come on you suddenly from behind, flashing their headlights and following you far too closely. These are signals for you to move out of their way, which you should do. They are accidents going somewhere to happen, so let them go to their fate. Don't interfere with Darwinian natural selection.

Center-line markings do not always make sense: a broken line (overtaking zone) may or may not give you enough time to pass another vehicle, depending on the other vehicle's speed. Use good judgement rather than relying on the markings.

Traffic Police Inspections
You will encounter police traffic stops on every long drive. Teams of traffic police set up highway checkpoints marked by traffic cones, signs, and a blue-and-white police cruiser car. Traffic will be guided by the cones through one lane. Officers will indicate if they want you to stop for inspection of your vehicle, its registration, and your driver's license. They usually ignore drivers in newer cars and concentrate on trucks, buses and older vehicles of questionable mechanical aptitude. If an officer doesn't look intently at your or signal with his/her hands, you can continue slowly through the checkpoint.

In Cities
Traffic signals at intersections are often placed so that it is difficult for the first cars stopped at the intersection to see the signal. Often cars will proceed past the signal, stop, and depend on cars behind to honk their horns when the signal has changed to red-yellow (which precedes green by about a second). Expect cars behind you to honk horns as soon as the signal changes. It is both a signal that you can now proceed, and an indication of displeasure that you have not already done so.

In fact, many drivers will honk their horns whenever you do something that they don't want you to do, such as be in front of them, or exist at all. They want you to do exactly what is best for them, rather than what is best for you. As it is impossible for you to do exactly what all the other drivers on the road would like you to do (except vanish entirely from the highway, if not the cosmos), you can usually just ignore their honking. Don't let it affect you emotionally. It's reflexive, part of the highway ecology, like birdsong in a forest, or frogs croaking in a swamp. It gives "texture" to your Turkish driving experience, but is of little importance.

Traffic circles/roundabouts are common, and they do not operate like those in the USA and UK. Usually, traffic in the roundabouts is controlled by traffic signals. If you are going straight through the circle you can usually continue straight through on a green light, but if you are turning 90 degrees left, or making a 180-degree U-turn, you must obey different signals as you turn: turning traffic waits in the circle for a different signal. Thus, if you intend to turn left, you should be in the left lane before you turn. If you plan to go straight, the right lane is best.

It is not uncommon to find stop signs and traffic signals in isolated places with little or no traffic. Such signs and signals are often ignored by Turkish drivers, who zoom right through them rather than stop and wait, contemplating the absurdity of sitting in the middle of nowhere, waiting for nothing.

At lightly-trafficked intersections and traffic roundabouts you may see the same behavior. Unfortunately, there is no master list of which signs and signals may safely be ignored, so it's difficult to know. But it's important to know, as drivers coming up behind you may not expect you to stop and may thus end up in intimate contact with your vehicle. More often, you may stop at a stop sign or traffic signal only to see the driver behind you swerve around you and speed right through the red light because he knows "nobody stops there."

Happy driving!

Turkish Driving Habits & Customs

Defensive Driving

Police Checkpoints

Driving During Ramazan (Ramadan)

Documents & Vehicle Equipment

Turkish Highway Signs & Terminology

Safe Driving in Turkey

Car Rental

Car Travel

Transportation

Turkish police cruiser.