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Sri Lanka is beset with many problems over which it has limited control. Adverse weather conditions resulting in a drought have a negative impact on agricultural production. Fluctuating prices in the world market can contribute to increasing costs of imports which in turn impact on the cost of living. Often what the Government is reduced to doing is to merely manage the situation arising from external factors which are often beyond its control.

In such a context where the public are hard put to face the challenges brought about by the economic crisis, life can be made that much easier for the beleaguered people if the situations within the control of the Government are better handled.

One such area is the lack of discipline on the roads which results in accidents that kill or incapacitate breadwinners in already poor families thus compounding the existential problems of those
left behind in the families of victims of road accidents.

The situation has worsened to such a degree that  The Sunday Times has within the past three months carried two news stories highlighting the issues around this tragic phenomenon.

These two news stories by Nathara Abeywickrema (June 18, 2023) and Minaza Hassan (August 6, 2023) comprehensively highlight some of the causes for the rash of road accidents afflicting the country and the views of experts on possible ways of containing this epidemic which poses a serious threat to road users.

According to the Sri Lanka Police, the death toll due to road traffic accidents this year stands at 976, with 290 being pedestrians, 304 motorcyclists, 83 pillion riders, 105 bicycle riders, 68 drivers, 119 passengers, and seven others.

The Sunday Times report quotes
Police Spokesman Nihal Thalduwa with regard to some of the causes of motor traffic accidents.

“A road accident is the last thing a rational motorist would want while at the wheels, but not many learn from previous mistakes. Although most road users are aware of general rules and safety measures, there is concern over their laxity,” Police Spokesman Nihal Thalduwa said.

There are other causes as well. Eating, drinking, using mobile phones, or even fiddling with the vehicle radio while on the move can distract a driver and cause accidents pointed out the Police. Drunk driving and defects in the vehicle one was driving were also contributory factors.

In the past few weeks accidents involving public transport were many with reports of buses falling over precipices on up country roads and even over a bridge at Manampitiya, which caused deaths and injuries. The latest accident was in Colombo where a bus plying to Kataragama and a lorry crashed at the Duplication Road-Bullers Road intersection at Bambalapitiya.

According to media reports the accident had occurred due to the bus ignoring the traffic signals. To regular road users on Duplication Road the accident would not have come as a surprise because the reckless manner in which the long distance buses were driven along Duplication Road was something they had learned to live with.

Sometime back the Private Bus Owners Association President Gemunu Wijeratne said many bus drivers were consumers of narcotic drugs.

According to media reports the Police did conduct a pilot drug test among bus drivers at the end of June this year, and it was found that close to 100 bus drivers out of 1,781 in the Western Province were drug users.

This is a scary proposition and the Police would do well to do regular tests on bus drivers through out the country and take such drivers off the road in the interest of road users and passengers.

Although several reasons had been put forward as causes for the increase in road accidents, the simple truth is that poor Policing contributed to the dangers posed to the people. A couple of years ago the Police launched a programme to ensure that drivers on Duplication Road and Galle Road stayed in their respective lanes without haphazard driving by criss-crossing lanes. This worked well with traffic moving in a disciplined way but after some time the Police lost interest and traffic was back to its wayward ways.

One hardly saw the Police stopping a vehicle for dangerous driving and disciplining drivers. It seemed they prefer to book those who park in the wrong place or some such trivial offences. While these were no doubt important it was more important to ensure the safety of road users.

Poor Policing was also seen in other sectors with increased crime, proliferation of arms and widespread drugs distribution being cases in point. It was quite interesting to note that despite the arrests of those using or peddling drugs in the streets not one importer (smuggler) of drugs had been arraigned before the Law.

Senior Journalist Ameen Izzadeen writing in Friday’s Daily Mirror summed up the duty of the State well. He wrote:

“In the fight against gun violence, the Sri Lankan government cannot afford to shoot blanks. It must bite the bullet and shoot down the problem with out-of-the-box solutions. It cannot take a kitchen knife to a gunfight. Strict law enforcement, intelligence-based searches, and strict Policing of the sea borders could be some of the measures the Government could take to deal with the issue.

It can also study the strict measures countries such as Japan and Singapore have taken to ensure virtual zero gun violence.”

Constitutional changes to ensure the independence of the Police by setting up Police Commissions will not have any meaning if the Police do not use such independence to develop their professionalism and carry out the tasks that they have been mandated to do.

(javidyusuf@gmail.com)