News
Two year-old is latest fatality in preventable road deaths
Two-year-old Oshada Savindu Shasmika from Weligama was the latest victim of a series of road tragedies, victim of a hit-and-run accident with Tangalle police still seeking the killer driver of the speeding jeep.
The scene of a recent accident that claimed lives. Pic by Sarath Siriwardene
The fatality rate from accidents has been rising steadily, and police say a combination of overloaded vehicles and bikes, new ways of road construction, lack of speed limit signs and private bus drivers dodging speed traps by phoning each other to warn of police on the road are helping to drive up the toll.
Police are today expected to spell out new measures taken to stem the increase in fatal accidents.
Oshada and his family were returning home on the Tangalle-Tissamaharama road after a trip to Badulla. Her father, 40-year-old Wickrema Samankumaram, was driving the three-wheeler with his wife and three children on board. At the time of the accident, the family had taken a break near the Netolpitiya dam and were having tea.
“On our way back we went to Suriyawewa, Hambantota and from Kirinda to the Ranminitenna tele-cinema village. As I was tired, we took a break near the dam and the children were with me, looking for fish.
“Our youngest ran to the middle of the road. As I ran to grab him, a car came on, travelling fast, but stopped. But within seconds a speeding jeep hit my son,” the shocked father said.
He said the jeep did not stop, but the driver of the car that had stopped had rushed the boy to the hospital; Oshada was, tragically, declared dead on admission.
Police have found the vehicle responsible for the accident. Officers studied CCTV footage of houses and shops beside the main road and were able to detect the jeep.
The person responsible for the accident had got the jeep’s lights altered to avoid detection. A 21-year-old person had been driving the vehicle when it met with the accident.
On Wednesday, a state-run bus collided with a three-wheeler, leaving five people dead, three of them from the same family.
The three-wheeler had been on its way to hospital in Hambantota with an eight-year-old child needing treatment.
Killer road accidents are happening on roads and rail tracks around the country.
Last year, 2,413 people were killed in road accidents compared to 2,362 the previous year, with the number of fatal accidents rising.
On average, six to seven people are killed daily on the road, according to statistics maintained by the Police Department.
While deaths have increased the number of accidents have decreased: 36,037 accidents last year, 1,840 fewer than in 2013.
A senior police officer said there was an increase in fatalities from motorcycle accidents last year: 872 deaths compared to 751 bike deaths in 2014.
“Most of the accidents were caused by negligence, particularly by those trying to overtake vehicles or speeding,” he added. Again, the number of accidents had slightly decreased – 9,162 compared to 9,430 in 2013 – although fatalities had risen.
Police said one reason for the higher death toll was that the vehicle and motorcycles were carrying a large number of passengers.
There were more serious accidents reported in the past two weeks.
Four people died and another 13 were injured when a lorry toppled on the Medawachchiya-Vavuniya road. All four were employees of the Railways Department travelling in a department lorry.
The vehicle had lost control, skidded and toppled while taking a bend, police said.
This followed last week’s tragic accident where four members of the family were killed when their vehicle was hit by a train at an unprotected rail crossing in Batuwatte, Ragama.
On February 8, a 45-year-old man from Weligama died when he lost control of his motorbike, skidded, and toppled.
On February 7, two youths aged 17 and 15 from Eravur were hit by the Batticaloa-Colombo train. Saravanabhavan Sanjeewan, 17, died on spot while the other, boy, suffering critical injuries, is being treated at the Batticaloa Teaching Hospital.
Police shook their heads over a collision between a private bus and a three-wheeler in Thangamale, Badulla, in which one man died and 17 people were injured.
A senior police officer in charge of traffic in the southern province said that despite the presence of police officers on main roads the competition between buses for business remained high, with speeding buses a threat to other road-users.
“Bus drivers and conductors use mobile phones to communicate about the presence of traffic police on the roads. They obey the rules in the area where the policemen are present but violate them soon after they pass that area,” the officer said.
Failure to put up proper road signs on speed limits in keeping with a Supreme Court order is preventing police from taking action against motorists who exceed the limits.
“Police take action against drivers for reckless driving but are unable to take action for speeding,” the officer said.
He believed the way new roads are constructed also contributed to accidents.
“Most of the roads built in the previous days had a higher elevation at the bend so that motorcycles do not go off the road. The new constructions don’t have this feature,” the officer said.