NINE people died and more than 300 people were injured in hundreds of vehicle smashes in August, an audit has revealed.

There was a total of 542 accidents reported by the Jandarme and police traffic officers in the province.

Nine people died, there were 329 injuries recorded and more than 200 accidents which was confined to vehicle damage.

The report said that 63,317 inspections of vehicles were undertaken, of which 13,721 vehicle owners were fined for various faults to their cars. Fines totaled more than 3 million Turkish Lira.

A total of 38 drivers have been referred to the courts for various driving offences and 1687 vehicles were found to be so defective they were banned from the roads. And 235 driver’s licenses were seized.

Security forces highlighted drink-driving and improper lane changes among the reasons for accidents during August.