Thomian Ride 2016 to create awareness on road safety

Road accidents have become major reason for deaths causing roughly 7 deaths each day and not to mention tens of thousands of motorists, commuters and pedestrians injured. In the light of increasing road deaths and road accidents, the STC Class of '82, a group of Old Thomians have come forward with the goal of cycling round the country with a mission to create awareness on road safety, with the goal of giving back to the society.

Globally, a staggering 1.25 million persons die each year as a result of road accidents and according to the World Health Organization (WHO) road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death among young people, aged 15-29.

90% of the world's fatalities on the roads occur in low-and middle-income countries, even though these countries have approximately half of the world's vehicles. Half of those dying on the world's road are 'vulnerable road users': pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists. Without action, road traffic crashes are predicted to rise to become the seventh leading cause of death by 2030.

"Our inaugural cycling tour will kick off in and we hope to cycle all around Sri Lanka in a span of 12 days covering close to 1,400 kilometers. The unique feature behind this is that our main goal is to create awareness in road safety in all the major cities and thereby prevent road accidents in the long run", said Dinesh Fernando - the livewire behind the small group of cyclists which has grown to over 50 by now.

He added that this would be very much different from any other cycling tour. "We are told that road accidents cause nearly 7-8 deaths which are

in fact preventable and unfortunately, with more vehicles entering the roads this rate is bound to go up.

The main cause, we are told, is the lack of awareness amongst cyclists, motorists and pedestrians. Unfortunately, lot of three-wheeler drivers and bus drivers too are not properly aware on how to ensure road safety. So we, as a Thomian community wanted to give back to our society and thought of filling this vacuum which will create benefits for all stakeholders by reducing accidents."

The main issue which we hope to tackle is the lack of road safety awareness amongst school children. We would collectively select around five to six townships from Negombo, Mannar, Jaffna, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Kataragama, Matara etc. in partnership with our respective city sponsors and hold an event with a carnival atmosphere along with a mobile band to draw crowds in order to create awareness towards our mission. To be fair to the sponsors those townships would be densely populated cities where road safety would be critical and towns where we can make a greater impact."

The cycling tour would take place from 25th October to 5th November 2016. "The cycling tour will start on the first day from Mutwal where S.Thomas' College had its humble beginnings and proceed to Kochchikade (Negombo) where we stop for the night".

"On the first day we would cover only around 40 kolometers but from the second day when we ride from Kochchikade to Puttlam close to approximately 100 kilometers would be covered. Third day would be to Silavaturai (Mannar) via Eluwankulam and Wilpattu National Park which is a scenic ride.