CCTV to nab reckless motorists on Katunayake Expressway
A new system including CCTV is to be introduced to crack down on reckless motorists and penalise them for speeding and other traffic offences on the new Colombo- Katunayake Sri Lanka-China Friendship Expressway, a top official said.
Discussions are now underway between the Motor Traffic Department and the Police City Traffic to finalise the modalities of the high tech-aided system to punish road traffic offenders, Commissioner General of Motor Traffic S.H. Harischandra told the Business Times.
He noted that motorists who drive their vehicles at an excessive speed of over 100 km per hour as well as other motor traffic offenders will be detected at the monitoring centre of the expressway and the video footage taken by using CCTV cameras will be presented to courts as evidence against them.
Such reckless drivers cannot deny the traffic offence committed by them as there is evidence against them, he said. This facility is reliable more than the use of speed guns by policemen on the southern expressway, he added.
14 closed -circuit television (CCTV) camera systems have been introduced extending throughout the whole expressway, allowing for better monitoring.
Staff has been trained in handling and maintenance of CCTV on the express way which reduces the travel time between Peliyagoda and Katunayake to 20 minutes from the earlier time of 1.5 hours using the Peliyagoda-Puttalam road.
According to the Motorists Driver Improvement Points system, reckless motorists will earn six points for exceeding the prescribed speed limits on a highway.
He said those who accumulated between eighteen and 23 points within 24 months would be given a warning by the Commissioner–General while those who exceed 23 points would have their licences suspended for a year.
As for those holding instructor’s licences, two consecutive suspensions within four years would lead to the cancellation of their licences.
Driving a motor vehicle on a highway recklessly or in a dangerous manner or at a dangerous speed will earn eight points.
| Compensation for trauma victims of motor accidentsBy Duruthu Edirimuni Chandrasekera
Trauma victims of motor traffic accidents in Sri Lanka would soon be protected by compulsory insurance cover applicable to all motorists, officials said. Amendments to the Motor Traffic Act will be introduced for compulsory third party insurance that will cover psychological effects of innocent victims of accidents. “It is essential to alter the system of traffic safety and supplement it with a broad system of support for both direct victims of accidents and their close relatives,” a Department of Motor Traffic official told the Business Times this week. While this will expand the scope of third party liability insurance pertaining to motor accidents, insurance industry analysts say that on the flip side insurance claim rates will increase which in turn will see a rise in third party premiums. Meanwhile, amendments to the Regulation of Insurance Industry Act (RII Act) which is due next year will feature a more scientific method towards measuring an insurer’s risk appetite, the Risk Based Capital (RBC) method. “The current supervisory system which is commonly known as the “Rules Based Supervisory System” is focused on establishing rules that scrutinize aspects such as the solvency margin,” he said, adding that in the near future, the implementation of a risk sensitive measurement of an insurer’s risk appetite will be carried out. The industry along with the Insurance Ombudsman is also gearing up its efforts to increase awareness amongst the community at large, on the benefits of insurance and initiatives are underway to improve the GDP contribution of insurance premiums which stands at less than 2 per cent at present. This effort is in the backdrop of the Central Bank’s target of the nation reaching a per capita income of US$ 4000 by the year 2016. |