road traffic, Istanbul

I don't even know where to begin when talking about the traffic conditions of Istanbul. At times, it is downright chaotic, other times, it is at a standstill. Cars whizzing in and out, dodging other cars and pedestrians, creating their own lanes, it's crazy! If you are driving yourself, good luck! If you are riding in a taxi, hold on and pray! And if you are walking around near a high-traffic area, watch out! There are just so many cars in this city, and not nearly enough street capacity to hold them all. I would definately suggest riding the trains and trams whenever possible. In many cases it is faster, and usually cheaper. Even walking is frequently faster here. But if you are driving or taking a taxi during the day, especially in the morning or late afternoon, make sure you leave plenty of time for traffic delays. I have personally sat in traffic for almost 2 hours in a drive from Sultanahmet to Besiktas, a drive that would ordinarily take 10 minutes. Good luck! :)

I've been in Beijing after Istanbul and belive me, drivers in Istanbul are pretty ok.
Taxi drivers are safe, they won't drink while working, even if you think that they drive crazy, they know what they are doing. When you take a taxi in Istanbul for the first time, seat in the back, couse first drive can be wierd. I've never seen car crash on Istanbul streets.
And it's really cheap.

Like many other streets around TAKSiM, there is also a traffic jam in Siraselviler Street.

This photo is taken at 04:30 am in Sunday morning. Seems as if it islike in the evening at rush hour, isnt it?

Take into consideration that a car trip can take up to 2 hours (normally) to go from one site to another within Istanbul (specially from the Asian side to the European side and between 8:30 am to 10 am and 5:30 pm until 7:30 pm).

The road traffic jams in Istanbul are really terrific - only a few miles will take the bus/taksi sometimes hours.Comparable with Bangkok or even Brussels
Honda and it's security patroll might be a little help.

To my opinion the drivers in Istanbul are the worst drivers i've ever seen !!!.

They are not careful , dont pay attention to the pedestrians and dont care about them.

If you want to pass on a street be extra careful and try to pass when other pass or when there is no traffic and always on a crosswalk.

They dont fasten their seatbelts , bikers ride without helmets , they dont signal when switching lanes , horn all the time.

Sundays, when the weather is nice, it is very popular among people in Istanbul to spend the day along Bosphorus. If you are going to Ortaköy for example you should not be in a hurry. I walked between Ortaköy and Besiktas and moved faster then the traffic many times.

traffic is horrible in Istanbul.
my suggest is dont jump front of cars if there is no traffic lights.
Mostly of drivers are driving like a crazy like they have no rules, especially Minubus ( we just have it Turkey) they can be with yellow color or with any color. Bigger than Cab smaller than Bus.

hopefully, we wont have it anymore in 4-5 yrs untill the subway project will be done in anatolia side.

Turkish drivers don't have a great deal of patience. Be careful to cross the road where other people are crossing and I'd recommend you don't attempt to drive here yourself if you are a tourist. Traffic police are everywhere.

They are not fake all right , but almost no one respects it . People drive very fast, so when you cross the street , be very careful.
We used to have similar situation here in Yugoslavia untill recently , now we have to respect the law LOL . So my basic instinct got back in Turkey ...I was thinking hmm , maybe I should put this tip on Local Customs section LOL