Traffic Electronic Control System, locally known as TEDES, an acronym for "Trafik Elektronik DEnetleme Sistemi", is a monitoring and imaging system for traffic law enforcement used on some streets and highways in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

to ensure

road safety Road traffic safety refers to the methods and measures used to prevent road users from being killed or seriously injured. Typical road users include pedestrians, cyclists, motorists, vehicle passengers, horse riders, and passengers of on-road ...

. TEDES equipment is an integrated

speed camera In everyday use and in kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude of the change of its position over time or the magnitude of the change of its position per unit of time; it is thus a scalar quantity. ...

red light camera A red light camera (short for red light running camera ) is a type of traffic enforcement camera that photographs a vehicle that has entered an intersection after the traffic signal controlling the intersection has turned red. By automatically phot ...

and

automatic number plate recognition Automatic number-plate recognition (ANPR; see also #Other names, other names below) is a technology that uses optical character recognition on images to read vehicle registration plates to create vehicle location data. It can use existing close ...

device. Mounted beside or over a road, it detects violations of traffic regulation such as

speeding Speed limits on road traffic, as used in most countries, set the legal maximum speed at which vehicles may travel on a given stretch of road. Speed limits are generally indicated on a traffic sign reflecting the maximum permitted speed - expres ...

and

red light running Traffic lights, traffic signals, or stoplights – known also as robots in South Africa are signalling devices positioned at road intersections, pedestrian crossings, and other locations in order to control flows of traffic. Traffic lights ...

. Other capabilities of TEDES are monitoring of driving on emergency stopping lane and

parking violation A parking violation is the act of parking a motor vehicle in a restricted place or in an unauthorized manner. It is against the law virtually everywhere to park a vehicle in the middle of a highway or road; parking on one or both sides of a road ...

s. The system is linked to an automated ticketing service.

Implementation

The legal infrastructure for TEDES was enacted on December 9, 2015, as a supplement to the Highways Traffic Law (Act #2918). For the implementation, municipalities are made responsible. TEDES measures are executed by the

Turkish National Police The General Directorate of Security ( tr, Emniyet Genel Müdürlüğü) or Turkish Police Service ( tr, Türk Polis Teşkilatı) is the national civilian police force responsible for law enforcement of the Republic of Turkey, which is affiliated ...

in the name of the

Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

and the

Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a part of the government in most countries that is responsible for matters related to the finance. Lists of current ministries of finance Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Finance (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Finance and Eco ...

. Municipalities receive 30% of the monthly revenues from the TEDES-related traffic fines for their expenses on installation and maintenance. TEDES is an integral part of the public area

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly t ...

system ( KGYS "Kent Güvenlik Yönetim Sistemi", literally: "City Security Management System") when this is already installed in the related city.

Pilot experiment A pilot study, pilot project, pilot test, or pilot experiment is a small-scale preliminary study conducted to evaluate feasibility, duration, cost, adverse events, and improve upon the study design prior to performance of a full-scale research pro ...

with TEDES started in

Çerkezköy Çerkezköy is a town and district of Tekirdağ Province in the Marmara Region of Turkey. Facts Çerkezköy is located in inland Thrace just to the west of the outlying Istanbul districts of Çatalca and Silivri. Çerkezköy is an industrial area. ...

Tekirdağ Province Tekirdağ Province ( tr, Tekirdağ ili , ) is a province of Turkey. It is located in the East Thrace region of the country, also known as European Turkey, one of only three provinces entirely within continental Europe. Tekirdağ Province is border ...

in November 2013. Other cities in the country implemented the system later with

Ordu Ordu () or Altınordu is a port city on the Black Sea coast of Turkey, historically also known as Cotyora or Kotyora ( pnt, Κοτύωρα), and the capital of Ordu Province with a population of 229,214 in the city center. Name Kotyora, the ori ...

being the first in November 2015.

Ticketing

The information collected by TEDES is converted to an administrative penalty decision. A traffic ticket constituting a

fine Fine may refer to: Characters * Sylvia Fine (''The Nanny''), Fran's mother on ''The Nanny'' * Officer Fine, a character in ''Tales from the Crypt'', played by Vincent Spano Legal terms * Fine (penalty), money to be paid as punishment for an offe ...

assessed against the owner of the vehicle is sent per mail to the owner's address accompanied by an image of the vehicle taken during the violation, which shows the

vehicle registration plate A vehicle registration plate, also known as a number plate (British English), license plate (American English), or licence plate ( Canadian English), is a metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle or trailer for official identificati ...

. The fine for speeding is categorized in two as exceeding the

speed limit Speed limits on road traffic, as used in most countries, set the legal maximum speed at which vehicles may travel on a given stretch of road. Speed limits are generally indicated on a traffic sign reflecting the maximum permitted speed - expres ...

between 10% and 30%, and more than 30%. Forced red light violation in order to enable

emergency vehicle An emergency vehicle is a vehicle used by emergency services. Emergency vehicles typically have specialized emergency lighting and vehicle equipment that allow emergency services to reach calls for service in a timely manner, transport equipment a ...

s with

right-of-way Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another. A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...

, such as

ambulance An ambulance is a medically equipped vehicle which transports patients to treatment facilities, such as hospitals. Typically, out-of-hospital medical care is provided to the patient during the transport. Ambulances are used to respond to medi ...

fire engine A fire engine (also known in some places as a fire truck or fire lorry) is a road vehicle (usually a truck) that functions as a firefighting apparatus. The primary purposes of a fire engine include transporting firefighters and water to an i ...

s and

police car A police car (also called a police cruiser, police interceptor, patrol car, area car, cop car, prowl car, squad car, radio car, or radio motor patrol) is a ground vehicle used by police and law enforcement for transportation during patrols a ...

s, pass through is not charged. According to a

court order A court order is an official proclamation by a judge (or panel of judges) that defines the legal relationships between the parties to a hearing, a trial, an appeal or other court proceedings. Such ruling requires or authorizes the carrying out o ...

, traffic law violations of a vehicle assessed by TEDES within five minutes can be charged once only. Arrival of the ticket per mail can take five to fifteen days. The existence of a ticket can be questioned online at the government's website by giving details of the related traffic registration certificate. The fine can be paid online at the website of the government's revenue administration.

Controversy

The income generated by ticketing the drivers is also shared with the municipalities where the system is commissioned. This generates incentive for municipalities to install TEDES on most abusive parts of the roads to increase the number of traffic violation tickets.

Road safety

It was reported that the number of traffic collisions at the TEDES-monitored intersections and fast lanes in

Gaziantep Gaziantep (), previously and still informally called Aintab or Antep (), is a major city and capital of the Gaziantep Province, in the westernmost part of Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region and partially in the Mediterranean Region, approximat ...

declined by about 40% within two months of the implementation of TEDES in mid-April 2016. The average daily traffic law violation decreased from 3,500 in April 2016, to 1,500 in May and 1,200 in June of the same year. About 70% of the violations were speeding related.

References

External links

{{commons category, TEDES (traffic enforcement system)
TEDES (Trafik Elektronik Denetleme Sistemi) website
2015 establishments in Turkey Road safety in Turkey Automatic number plate recognition Law enforcement in Turkey Road speed limit Road traffic management Traffic enforcement cameras