Politicians and Police add to worsening indiscipline

The death of State Minister Sanath Nishantha and his Personal Security Officer (PSO) in an accident on the Katunayake expressway brings back focus on the serious repercussions of disregarding traffic rules. Initial investigations by the Police have revealed the driver was speeding at 160 km an hour when the maximum speed on the expressway is restricted to 100 km. The driver survived the accident and is in hospital. He is a man implicated for reckless driving on previous occasions but with the blessing of his political master, his services were retained which ultimately led to the tragic death of the SLPP MP and another person.

Since then, another accident was reported on the expressway where an Australian national was killed. The numbers of dead and injured in road accidents keep piling up and in a majority of cases, fatal accidents are preventable if those behind the driving obeyed traffic rules and realise that, as drivers, not only are they putting their own lives at risk but also the lives of other passengers, motorists and pedestrians.

An average of 3,000 individuals lose their lives in road accidents in Sri Lanka each year and this trend is on the rise. Disturbingly, nearly 115 children lost their lives as a result of road accidents last year as this segment is more vulnerable than adults to road accidents. Several foreign tourists are among those killed and injured in accidents during the past few months.

Sagala Ratnayake, the Senior Adviser on National Security and Chief of Staff to President Ranil Wickremesinghe announced recently that the President plans to establish a high-level committee dedicated to the prevention and management of road accidents and their associated fatalities and disabilities. This is a positive sign but depending on committees to put things in order will not be enough given the seriousness of the situation in the country with regard to traffic accidents.

The lack of discipline among drivers is the main reason for fatal accidents. Bus drivers in particular are among the worst, who have scant regard for the safety of the passengers, other motorists or pedestrians, once behind the wheel. Bus drivers competing to overtake other buses is a common sight in the country. In many instances, police on traffic duty turn a blind eye to such reckless drivers for reasons best known to them.

Politicians are a huge part of this problem as well. Sanath Nishantha is no more but others like him use political clout to flaunt traffic rules and get away. There have been numerous instances where pedestrians have been killed or injured by speeding vehicles belonging to politicians but there has been no change to their urge to fly on the roads in their fancy vehicles without a care for others. One death of a colleague is unlikely to change the attitude of the others and like much speculation on social media, they might seek bigger vehicles with better security features in place after this tragedy instead of changing their ways.

The traffic police division is understaffed and overworked. The police personnel on duty on roads seem unmotivated and do little to instil confidence by their lacklustre attitude.

The Acting IGP Deshabandu Tennakoon has launched a major operation which he claims is intended to crackdown on undesirables in society be they drug dealers, criminals, etc. The entire focus of the Police seems to be on this even though it seems obvious by now this is more a political driven program than a genuine effort to deal with crimes in the country.

What the Acting IGP can do is direct some of the same attention onto the roads in this country, deploy more personnel and bring down the accident rate. That would be more laudable than the hyped up “anti-drug’ campaign which is yet to yield any recognisable results. At least in the traffic department, the Police are in a better position to show results. Let 2024 be a year where both the Police and drivers make a commitment to stop the soaring number of road accidents and save lives.