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Police, road-safety officials on top gear to slash accidents in 2013
View(s):More than 2,000 road deaths in 2012; negligence and drunk-driving main causes for accidents
By Nadia Fazlulhaq and Chamal Weerakkody
More stringent enforcement of traffic rules has not helped reduce the number of fatal road accidents in the country.
A road accident in Dambulla on Saturday injured seven people. Pic by Kanchana Kumara Ariyadasa
Some 2,190 people have died in the past 12 months, making road accidents a leading fatality factor in 2012, which also saw 6,283 serious accidents.
The National Council for Road Safety said on an average 150 road accidents and six deaths occurred daily.
According to Police, some 39,089 road accidents have been reported so far this year, in spite of various police measures taken by to reduce road accidents. This was a 5.6 per cent increase from 2011’s figure of 37,000.
Police Traffic Chief K. Arasaratnam vowed to take tougher action against errant drivers in the coming year to make our roads safe. “There will be no leniency for traffic law violators,” he said adding that the new measures would include the points system (see box story), conducting awareness programmes, deploying more police officers on duty to nab and fine errant drivers.
Gamini Ekanayake, Chairman of the National Council for Road Safety, expressed hope that traffic offences such as speeding, overtaking at inappropriate places and turning without signals should be brought to an end. He hoped the new points system or the de-merit system along with the strict enforcement of the traffic laws would bring about road discipline in driver.
He said another leading cause of accidents was drunk driving and the National Council of Road Safety was ready to provide financial assistance to the Traffic Police if they need to buy more breathalysers.
Mr. Ekanayake said the authorities should take measures to remove unroadworthy vehicles and vehicles with ineffective brakes, no headlights, front lights or signals.Road accidents are not always due to the fault of the driver. Pedestrians are also a contributory cause. Therefore, they also should cooperate in the effort to bring down the number of accidents, the NCRS chief said.
He said carelessness and disregard for road rules on the part of pedestrians led to fatal accidents. According to the NCRS, 48 per cent of the accidents were caused by those who did not possess a valid driving licence or drivers with less than three years of experience.
Christmas day saw the tragic death of 21-year-old journalist Amila Jayasinghe who was on her way to work. Amila, died on the spot when she was run over by a lorry in Rosemead Place, Colombo 07. The lorry was driven by the driver’s assistant who had no driving licence.
Dr. Prasad Ariyawansa, Accident Service Director at the National Hospital, said he believed the number of road accidents could be brought down by compelling strict compliance to traffic laws and creating awareness among motorists and the public on road discipline.
According to him, negligence, followed by drunk driving, is the main cause for accidents and motorcycles — 55 per cent of road accidents – and private buses were involved in a large number of accidents.
National Transport Commission (NTC) Chairman Roshan Gunewardena said they were also planning to conduct a number of road safety programmes for drivers and pedestrians.
In every district, drivers would be trained on how to prevent accidents, technical knowledge and responsible driving, he said.
In the coming year, the NTC would introduce a competition to choose the best bus driver of the year with the intention of reducing road accident, he said adding that the winner would be adequately rewarded.
Another measure would be to provide earplugs with automated alarms for drivers on long-distance travel so that they would stay awake.
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