Turkey has dropped a bizarre plan to distribute body bags to people in an attempt to assure them that their bodies would not be left lying in the street after any fatal accident, Turkish media said.
It said the plan was withdrawn after harsh criticism from the press and politicians."It was a ridiculous decision. We halted it," Health Minister Ibrahim Ozsoy was quoted as saying by the Sabah newspaper.
Ozsoy said civil servants in his ministry were organizing the distribution of body bags in public without his knowledge in an apparent attempt to assure people that their bodies would not be left lying in the street after any fatal accident.
Turkey has an abysmal safety record on the road and in the work place. Traffic crashes killed 2,713 people in the first seven months of 1997.
A ministry order to buy the $10 bags for all vehicles, cinemas, cafes, houses and work places with more than five occupants was issued in the official gazette at the end of August.
"I found it inhuman and frightening," said Husamettin Cindoruk, a junior coalition partner in the left-right government.