ANKARA, June 1 (Xinhua) -- A total of 70 people lost their lives in traffic accidents during the nine-day Eid al-Adha holiday across Türkiye, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday.
"While the joy of the holiday envelops our hearts, the pain of losing 70 of our citizens in traffic accidents has deeply saddened all of us as a nation," Erdogan said after a cabinet meeting.
However, he said, the number of fatal accidents this year has decreased compared with previous years.
Erdogan attributed the improvement in traffic safety to measures such as new roads, intensified traffic control, air-supported inspections, and restrictions on heavy vehicles.
Compared with the average of previous Eid holidays, fatal traffic accidents decreased by 45.1 percent, while deaths at accident scenes declined by 34.3 percent, according to Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci on Monday.
