09.05.2026 12:00
A businessperson living in Belgium prepared an 18-meter-long carpet reading "pedestrian first" to highlight the differences between European and Kayseri traffic.
Businessman Osman Boyacıoğlu, who lives in Belgium, came to his hometown Kayseri 8 months ago and carried out an interesting awareness campaign.
Businessman Osman Boyacıoğlu came to his hometown Kayseri 8 months ago and established a carpet factory. Noticing that pedestrians are not given way in Kayseri due to the differences between Europe and Kayseri traffic, Boyacıoğlu met with Governor Gökmen Çiçek and designed a carpet with the theme 'pedestrian first' to raise awareness. The carpet, specially designed for the pedestrian crossing, was used as a symbolic pedestrian crossing during Traffic Week events in Kayseri.
"THERE ARE VERY SERIOUS DIFFERENCES"
Speaking to DHA, Osman Boyacıoğlu said, "I visited the Governor in February and informed him about the project. He liked the project very much. He said, 'Let's definitely carry out this project during Traffic and Highways Week.' Accordingly, we wanted to create pedestrian awareness across all of Turkey. As someone who has lived in Europe for many years, when we look at the traffic rules in Europe and Turkey, there are very serious differences. In Turkey, unfortunately, pedestrians are not given way much. This issue is a bit more sensitive in Europe, and we wanted to create awareness by paying attention to this. People need to pay a bit more attention to pedestrians."
"IT WAS OUR FIRST SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY PROJECT"
Emphasizing that the event attracted great interest, Boyacıoğlu said, "As a result of my research, approximately 1,500-2,000 pedestrian deaths occur annually. This is a serious rate. We looked at it from this perspective and thought about how much we could raise awareness and convey this message to people, and that was our aim. We implemented this project on the occasion of Traffic and Highways Week. This project came to life with the support of our Governor, our Metropolitan Mayor, and the Police Department. It received significant interest both in the city and on social media. This is a great source of pride for us. We are a company that has been operating in Turkey for 8 months. This was our first social responsibility project. The carpet is approximately 18 meters long, 4 meters wide, totaling 72 square meters. It has an inscription saying 'pedestrian first'."
"IT WAS A DIFFERENT MESSAGE TO THE WORLD"
Boyacıoğlu said, "We created different designs and worked on colors to make the color more attention-grabbing. Initially, we made it black on white, but in the final meeting, it was decided to have a red background and white text. We think it attracted more attention this way. We chose that color just to catch attention. The interest from citizens pleased us. It was a separate source of pride for us. Our goal is purely to raise awareness. The interest of citizens, them walking on the carpet, and vehicles continuing to pass under the control of traffic officers for a while, sent a different message to the entire world. We say, ‘pedestrian first’."