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Vesak accidents: Doctors and police give different reasons
Come Vesak, there are many distractions that drivers have to be aware of, including the Veak sightseers and pandals and other illuminations on the road. Pix by Nilan Maligaspe and Krishan jeevaka Jayaruk
Doctors blamed poor traffic control as the cause for several accidents during the Vesak season, but police denied the charge.
The accusations by doctors came after they heard statements from victims they treated Deputy Director, Accidents and Orthopaedic Service at the National Hospital, Dr. H.M.K. Wikramanyake said there was a high rate of casualties.
“We received 59 traffic accident patients on Vesak Day (May 3) and 62 on the day after, and 89 patients on Tuesday,” he said. Half the accidents involved motorcycles and three-wheelers, he said. Patients were admitted with head and spinal cord injuries as well as dislocations and bone fractures. Some had to undergo amputations.
In some cases motorcycle riders or pushcyclists had been wearing masks or other gear that obstructed their vision, leading to accidents.Dr. Wikramanayake said that during the festival season law enforcement authorities showed leniency to drivers as well as pedestrians. He suggested that police restrict driving in Vesak zones and allow the public to walk around freely.
Police media spokesman ASP Ruwan Gunasekera denied that the police had been lenient, saying 800 traffic policemen as well as 1,500 other police officers had been on duty in Colombo city to ensure public safety.
ASP Gunasekera said police had carried out many awareness programmes advising the public to not use lorries, tippers and tractors as modes of transport for Vesak sightseeing, yet people had ignored these directives and that had caused two of the biggest accidents.
Chandramarkkala Kanchana Kumudini. Pix by Indika handuwala
He said three-wheeler drivers had been overloading their vehicles with sightseers and hence when they met with accidents a larger number of people had been injured. Some of those injured in accidents were still receiving treatment at the National Hospital over the weekend.
One of them had been offering coffee from a dansala at Panchikawatte when she had been run over by a car. Chandramarkkala Kanchana Kumudini, 36, whose swollen arm bore tyre marks, said the accident had occurred around midnight on Vesak Day when she had jumped into the middle of a lane to stop a vehicle to offer coffee.
She said had not noticed that a car had been reversing behind her. The vehicle had knocked her down and run over her. Tharaka Hevage, 24, had a badly injured leg and doctors had told him to prepare himself for surgery to insert a metal plate in his knee. He is concerned over his mobility because his career as a driver depends on it.
The accident had occurred when he and four friends had hired a three-wheeler to go sightseeing on Vesak Day at Yakkala junction.He said a hybrid car driven on the wrong side had crashed into the three-wheeler, making it topple, causing his injury. A bus and a tipper truck loaded with passengers seeing the Vesak sights collided in Sadunpura in Dehiattakandiya last Sunday, resulting in the death of a woman and injuries to 22 others. The victim was identified as R.M Muthumanike, 34, a resident of Ariyawatte Mahiyanganya.
Dr. H.M.K. Wikramanyake
A tractor being used to transport several people touring festival sights on Sunday in Puttalam met with an accident while trying to overtake a private bus. A resident of Tabbowa, 42-year-old Rohana Wijewardene, died in the accident and 12 others, including three children and four women, were injured. Karapitiya Hospital Deputy Director Dr. Chandima Sirithunga said that the hospital had admitted 10 people injured in road accidents during Vesak. Kurunegala Hospital Director Dr. Palitha Yapa said 31 people had been injured in traffic accidents, most suffering head wounds, and that many bike riders had not worn helmets correctly.
There were many distractions for drivers during Vesak, a former police director of city traffic, retired senior superintendent K. Arasaratnam said.
People tooted horns and played instruments, others wore masks, and they lost sight of the fact that while they were enjoying themselves this was happening on crowded roads where drivers were already being distracted by pandals, Vesak lanterns and lights.
She never had a taste of the coffee at the dansala
In a double tragedy a 9-year old girl died after being hit first by a motorcycle and then by a three-wheeler on Vesak Day. The victim Samaraweera Arachchige Swarnamali Yasodha, a Grade 4 Student of Gurukula Vidyalaya, Kelaniya, was a resident of Peliyagoda. Her mother, Vijayakumari Priyadharshini (28) told an inquest that her daughter had crossed the road to go to a coffee dansala close to their home when the tragedy occurred.
“She was thrown about two yards. She was rushed to the National Hospital but succumbed to her injuries the following day May 4.” The Peliyagoda Police said the three-wheeler driver had fled but the motorcyclist was arrested. National Hospital Judicial Medical Officer H.D.S.C. Appuhamy said the body of the victim was handed over to the mother.
The Inquirer into Sudden Deaths requested the Peliyagoda Police to produce both the motorcyclist and the three-wheeler driver at the Colombo Judicial Courts on May 17.
