In Turkey, new traffic regulations are again presented to the public with a familiar rhetoric: “traffic safety.” The ban on APP license plates, the dismantling of retrofitted LED screens, heavy fines for multimedia systems... On paper, the state acts like an engineer establishing order in traffic. It sets standards, measures, disciplines.
But anyone who knows how the law works in real life in Turkey knows this:
The problem in this country is often not the law itself, but how the law is applied to whom.
This is precisely why the APP license plate and vehicle display debate is not a simple traffic regulation. This is a matter of the state in Turkey. how it organizes the public sphere, who it frees and who it forbids technology to, and most importantly, how it invisibly establishes class distinctions is a small but instructive example.
Recent statements have made this debate even more acute. Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi, has made a clear appeal to vehicle owners:
The display and sound systems installed in the vehicles must be removed.
According to the minister, tablets, screens, speakers and amplification systems installed in vehicles can distract the driver. Therefore, citizens should remove these systems from their vehicles.
Two points were particularly striking in the statement.
First:
Vehicles There are no bans on the original display and sound systems from the factory.
Second:
In case of retrofitting a display or sound system to vehicles Under Law No. 2918 on Road Traffic, administrative fines of up to 21 thousand liras can be imposed.
In addition, in case of loud music in the vehicle 3 thousand lira fine will also be implemented.
At first glance, these explanations seem like a technical traffic regulation. However, a closer look at the issue reveals a very different reality.
A look at the automobile market today reveals a very clear fact. Almost all new generation vehicles are now equipped with giant screens.
12 inches...
15 inches...
17-inch touch screens...
360 degree camera systems...
Reversing cameras...
Digital indicators
Turn on the car commercials; all these systems are not “dangerous” technology and security revolution as a "good".
But you can take the same technology As soon as you install a 2005 model vehicle, suddenly a legal problem arises.
A screen is no longer technology.
A camera is no longer security.
Suddenly “substandard equipment” it becomes.
And in this case 21 thousand lira fine may be in question.
This is where Turkey's chronic contradiction emerges:
Screen in the new car Technology
Display on old vehicle crime
This is not just a technical discussion of standards. In fact, this situation reveals a reality that is becoming increasingly evident in Turkey:
Technology is not equal for everyone.
Average vehicle age in Turkey today It is around 14-15 years. Most of the vehicles circulating in traffic are old models. In an economy where the prices of new cars reach millions, millions of people are unlikely to buy new cars.
So instead of people changing their vehicles to try to heal.
He installs a parking sensor.
It adds a reversing camera.
It puts a small multimedia screen.
These are often not luxuries safety and ease of use.
Reversing cameras in particular are systems that reduce urban accidents. This is why they are mandatory in new vehicles in Europe and the USA.
But the picture in Turkey is different.
A new car buyer
with its giant screen from the factory.
But the citizen who installed a small screen in his old car
He may face a 21 thousand lira fine.
At this point, the perception in the minds of citizens is very clear:
If you are poor, don't use a screen.
If you are rich, buy a new car and drive around with the screen you want.
The APP license plate issue is part of the same symbolic debate.
Yes, it is technically non-standard. But most of these license plates are not systems that hide the identity of the vehicle. They can be read by traffic cameras and do not hide the owner of the vehicle.
Nevertheless, the state's harsh intervention in this matter reminds us of a very familiar administrative reflex in Turkey:
organize the image instead of establishing order.
Because if traffic safety is really a concern in Turkey, there are much bigger problems.
These are the main causes of accidents that kill dozens of people every day:
- speed violations
- lack of driver training
- lack of supervision
- urban planning issues
- privileged vehicle culture in traffic
While there are vehicles with flashing lights on the streets, convoys parked without rules, and power relations that see themselves as exempt from traffic, the state's directing its energy to the license plate font of citizens or the small screen on their cars inevitably raises another question:
Is it really about security, or is it about disciplining the public sphere?
Instead of solving complex problems, the state in Turkey often It establishes order through symbols.
The headscarf
Social media
Banners
License plates
Vehicle displays
These are the easiest scenes of the state's demonstration of authority.
Because it is easy to establish order in these areas.
But it is much more difficult to change traffic culture, improve driver training and eliminate the privileged car system.
So most of the time it's not the difficult visible is regulated.
The plate is removed.
The LED screen is removed.
The multimedia system is banned.
But the inequality in traffic remains.
A real traffic reform would have been done from a different perspective.
Technologies to improve the safety of older vehicles were encouraged.
Reversing cameras would be widespread.
Driver training would be strengthened.
The rules applied equally to everyone.
Because traffic safety does not depend on the model year of the vehicle.
with equal application of the rules provided.
But in Turkey, security is often not the issue.
Issue over whom and how authority will be established.
The resulting regulation tells us something about society, not about traffic:
Even roads are not equal in Turkey.
Two vehicles drive on the same road.
Someone's screen technology.
The other's screen 21 thousand liras is a fine.
And this difference is often not of technical standard
economic class.