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Unmarked vehicles, un-stressed traffic police key to preventing road deaths
Escalating road accidents could be stemmed by introducing shifts for overworked traffic police, deploying mobile units using unmarked cars and motorbikes and creating public awareness of quick action when hit-and-run accidents occur, senior police expert urge.
In less than 10 years, more than 20,000 people have been killed on Lanka’s roads.
Wounded factory workers being treated at the Dambulla hospital after their bus collided with a parked lorry. Pix by Kanchana Kumara Ariyadasa
Last week, two accidents were reported in Dambulla-Habarana and on the Colombo-Ratnapura road. More than 35 people were injured when the private bus they were traveling in lost control, veered off the road and turned turtle. The bus has also knocked a motorbike and hit a lamp post.
On Tuesday this week, three people were killed and another five injured when a lorry carrying employees of a factory collided with a parked lorry at Kuruvita along the Colombo-Ratnapura road.
Retired deputy inspector-general of traffic, Camillus Abeygunawardena said there were not enough traffic police to cope with the growing number of vehicles as well as accidents.
“Many traffic police officers have told me that they work at a stretch from 6am to 7-8pm. This will not only exhaust them but also affect their duties.
“Traffic police officers should be given two shifts from 6am to 2pm and then from 2pm to 10pm. In many developed countries, traffic police have three shifts, including an overnight shift,” Mr. Abeygunawardena pointed out.
He said it was essential to study accident black spots and have mobile teams deployed in these areas.“The accident map should not be just lying
The private bus that carried the factory workers
around in an office: it needs to be studied and necessary measures taken to curb accidents in these areas,” he said.
The former traffic DIG said it was a good move to equip traffic police with motorcycles as static enforcement was a failure.
“Unmarked vehicles in mobile enforcement are essential as it is easy to nab people overtaking or violating traffic rules,” he said. Officers in these vehicles could, when answering an emergency, take out and fix auxiliary police flashing lights on the roof of their unmarked vehicles.
“The surprise element will keep the drivers in constant vigilance,” Mr. Abeygunawardena said, adding that plain-clothed police should be posted at strategic locations.He noted that increasing numbers of speeding trucks transporting construction material were causing accidents, with recklessly-driven tipper trucks hitting pedestrians and vehicles.
Another former traffic DIG, T. Perinpanayagam, said the defunct Motor Traffic Advisory Council should be reactivated.
“The Department of Motor Traffic has to play a crucial role with regard to action to prevent road accidents. The Council could suggest remedial measures,” he said.
A threewheeler floating in a wewa after it veered off the road at Denagama. Pic by Krishan Jeewaka Jayaruk
Former traffic DIG K. Arasaratnam said quick action could help nab miscreants.
“In most hit-and-run cases, people in the vicinity fail to use their mobile phones and take a picture of the vehicle or take down the vehicle number. The public also ignores the importance of dialing 119 in case of emergencies. The traffic police should also take hit-and-run accidents seriously and strengthen investigations,” he said.
Accidents continued to build up in February.
Five out of six people travelling in a three-wheeler two weeks ago were killed when their three-wheeler hit an SLTB bus in Hambantota. The dead included a nine-month-old baby and a nine-year-old girl.
Last Sunday, a pedestrian was killed in a hit-and-run incident near the Balagalle temple in Divulapitiya-Kurunegala road.
In the same week, a 26-year-old man from Narammala, Kurunegala died after his motorbike hit a van while trying to overtake a lorry.
Last week in Ampara, a man riding a motorbike was hit by a car and died on the spot.
An 11-year-old schoolboy died when he was hit by a small lorry while crossing the Thirappane-Anuradhapura road after alighting from his school bus.
A passenger of a speeding cab died when the driver, trying to overtake a lorry, hit a bus coming from the opposite direction on the Nawalapitiya-Gampola road. Police said the cab driver had been under the influence of liquor.
A man was killed when the car he was driving lost control and hit a nearby tree in Sellakataragama along the Kataragama-Buttala road.
Other victims of accidents last month included a 31-year-old from Sevanagala, a 50-year-old female from Medagama and two men, aged 19 and 23, from Ruwanwella.
The National Council for Roads says 24,001 deaths on the road have been reported from 2004 to 2013.According to police, 2,413 people were killed in road accidents last year compared to 2,362 the previous year. Last year there were 36,037 road traffic accidents recorded.