Turkey’s Transport Minister Posts His Own Speeding Ticket
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Turkey’s Transport Minister Posts His Own Speeding Ticket

The internet is a wonderful place. You can buy a second-hand gearbox from some bloke in Poland, learn how to strip a carburetor in under 10 minutes, or watch a panda sneeze 800 times in a row. What you probably shouldn’t do, however, is upload incriminating evidence of yourself breaking the law. Yet, somehow, people keep doing it.

And now, joining the prestigious ranks of people who’ve grassed themselves up online, we have Abdulkadir Uraloğlu—Turkey’s minister of transport, no less. Yes, the very man whose day job is to keep the nation’s roads safe decided it was a good idea to post a video of himself barrelling down the Ankara–Niğde highway at speeds normally reserved for the Nürburgring.

The clip, which he proudly shared on X (that’s Twitter if you’re over 30), shows his speedometer flashing merrily between 118 and 140 mph (that’s 190–225 km/h in metric money). For reference, the legal limit in Turkey is 85 mph (137 km/h). Which means the minister wasn’t just speeding—he was practically auditioning for a Le Mans drive.

To really hammer the point home, the video was set to the kind of stirring soundtrack you’d expect from a state TV broadcast—folk songs and presidential speeches—topped with the hashtag #TurkeyAccelerates. Oh, it accelerated all right. Straight into viral infamy.

Because, in case it wasn’t obvious, the whole thing blew up online. Five million views, countless comments, and a nation wondering if the guy in charge of transport policy had just become Turkey’s unofficial street-racing ambassador.

To his credit, Uraloğlu didn’t delete the evidence or try to blame it on “the algorithm.” Instead, he doubled down and reposted the clip with a sheepish confession:

“I took to the wheel to check the Ankara-Niğde highway and unintentionally exceeded the speed limit for a short period. With the video, I effectively denounced myself.”

Translation: “Yes, I was speeding. Yes, I posted it myself. Yes, I’m an idiot.”

The authorities slapped him with a fine of 9,267 Turkish lira (about $225). Which, let’s be honest, is roughly the price of a decent steering wheel cover. For driving at 140 mph. In a country where he’s literally supposed to be setting the example.

Of course, he’s not the first politician to get caught being spectacularly daft behind the wheel. An Ohio senator once took a Zoom call mid-drive, while an Australian mayor managed to crash his car after admitting to a tipple or two. But Uraloğlu’s effort might just be the most gloriously self-inflicted of them all.

He did at least finish with a noble sentiment, declaring: “Sticking to the speed limit is mandatory for everyone, much more careful from now on.” Which is the political equivalent of a teenager saying, “I’ll never drink again” after their first hangover.

So, what have we learned? Well, two things really: one, the Ankara–Niğde highway is apparently good for triple-digit testing, and two, if you’re going to speed, maybe don’t upload the evidence yourself—especially if you’re the minister of transport.

Source: @Abdulkadir URALOĞLU via X