Deadly drives

Road accidents are on the increase, with the Western Province recording the highest fatalities in 2015:

by Rukshana Rizwie

A day before New Year's eve on December 30, a family of four including a two-year-old embarked on a journey from Colombo. Their destination was Kalmunai. Boarding the van at 4.30 a.m, little did they realise it would be their last journey. Fathima Faroosha, Fathima Sara, Ummu Nushran Rihan, Mohamed Ibrahim and Mohamed Ahamed, the family were heading towards Kandy when the van they were travelling in collided head on with the private bus at Dummaladeniya. The deadly impact left no chance of survival for the passengers in the van.

Twenty two commuters who were in the bus, mostly pilgrims travelling to Somawathiya from Polgassowita were also injured and were rushed to a hospital nearby and later transferred to Colombo National Hospital (CNH).

Accidents on New Year's eve

For the CNH, ready to handle victims of New Year's eve revelries - victims of road accidents and fire crackers were nothing new.

According to Pushpa Ramani Zoysa, the National Coordinator for Training, Accident Service at the National Hospital, this year was no different. However, the number of accidents had risen by 20% compared to last year. A total of 551 accident victims were admitted during the last two days.

Accident on Jan.1

Thirteen people were injured when a bus collided head-on with another bus travelling from Colombo at the Panchikawatha round-about on Friday morning, police media spokesperson ASP Ruwan Gunasekera said.

The accident occurred when the bus had attempted to overtake another vehicle. There were no fatalities reported, while the injured were rushed to CNH.

Road accidents kill 2722 in 2015

According to latest statistics released by the Traffic Police this week, during the last 12 months, 2,722 deaths were reported from road accidents.

This included 777 pedestrians 814 motor-cyclist, 183 pillion riders, 198 drivers, 486 passengers, 250 cyclists and 14 others. Police have cautioned that vehicular traffic has to be stream line, since the number of accident has been on the inclined during the last few months.

Motorcyclists top list

While 391 passengers were killed in 2014, the number rose to 486 in 2015, the number of motorcyclists killed in 2014 was 732 while 2015 so an increased of 82 bringing the total to 814. at a provincial level recorded the highest number of road accident going from 660 in 2014 2718 last year.

The North Central Province saw a decline in the number of road accidents from 177 in 2014 to 59 in 2015, however, the number of fatalities increase last year, resulting in 262 deaths.

Motorcycles, lorries and three-wheelers stop the list with 1035, 338 and 363 deaths reported last year alone.

The Department cited failure to control vehicles, reckless driving, speeding, overtaking on the wrong side, turning the vehicle without a signal and driving under the influence of liquor as reasons for the spike in the number of accidents.

Police spokesman, Ruwan Gunasekera said using mobile phones while driving and even while crossing was detrimental and resulted in several accidents during the last few months.

[Safety tips]

For motorcyclists:

Never have more than two passengers on a motorcycle

Always signal when changing lanes or merging with traffic.

If you see a motorcycle with a signal on, be careful: motorcycle signals are often non-canceling and could have been forgotten.

Do not answer phones or talk while riding

Wear protective clothing, preferable a jacket to protect arms and elbows in case of accident

If there are children, make sure they wear helmets

For pedestrians

Cross streets at a corner, using traffic signals where available and crosswalks

Always look left, right, and left again before crossing a street, and keep watching as you cross

Pedestrians should be especially careful at intersections, where drivers may fail to yield the right-of-way to pedestrians while turning onto another street

When crossing don't use cell phones

Don't walk about on the railway crossing

When trying to cross an unprotected railway crossing, if the light is on and the signal can be heard, do not cross.