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| Sunday, 6 October 2002 |
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Editorial |  |
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Editor, Sunday Observer. E-mail: [email protected] Snail mail : Sunday Observer, 35, D.R.Wijewardana Mawatha, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Telephone : 94 1 429239 / 331181 Fax : 94 1 429230 Road rage The road tragedy and subsequent mob violence in Mattumagala on Friday raises two equally serious issues that the country and its leaders must confront. Firstly, there is the issue of driving competence and the burning question as to how a section of a major highway that had already seen traffic fatalities previously had been left without any additional precautionary measures that might have prevented further tragedy. The second issue is the alarmingly frequent incidence of mob vengeance that betrays the people's growing lack of confidence in redress by the institutions of law and order. The Negombo-Colombo highway has long been known for its heavy traffic, fast-driven vehicles and a mounting accident toll. The approach segment to Colombo was particularly infamous as a kind of 'death zone'. But the Negombo-Colombo road is not the only one with such zones. The Galle Road too has several 'death zones', including deadly corners, while the High Level Road as well as the Kandy Road are also similarly characterised. The local police authorities are understood to have admitted to the media that the point in the road where the bus had run over and killed two school girls on Friday was such a known death zone with previous fatalities. If so, the authorities will have to face the question as to why nothing had been done to prevent further vehicle accidents. Have the authorities, both the police, the local government and other relevant agencies taken steps to ensure that every measure of protection and prevention was in place? Then there is the perennial issue of driver competence and this country's shameful history of corruption and laxity in driver training and licensing. Most shameful of all, however, is the record of incompetence, laxity and corruption in our agencies of law and order - all adding up to a failure of justice and the people's disillusionment. It is this disillusionment that has led to the increasing propensity of people, whole neighbourhoods sometimes, to take the law into their own hands and to spontaneously wreak vengeance. There have been nearly a dozen incidents of mass 'road rage' in the aftermath of traffic tragedies in recent years, almost all of them occurring in the approaches to Colombo. It raises the question of our social behaviour and the ability of Sri Lankans to restrain themselves and to channel emotions into constructive rather than destructive action. But the fact that such spontaneous acts of mob vengeance are only a recent development points to a cause that cannot be one that is embedded in our nature as some inherent, permanent characteristic. Rather, it is indicative of the perception of people that today, unlike in the past, the channels of legal redress are not delivering justice adequately. While the law's delays are well acknowledged, the law's failure to do justice at all, to turn a blind eye, and, indeed, to corruptly participate in crime are also now an acknowledged tendency albeit one that is decried and that has prompted a search for solutions. While the courts themselves have been generally free of suspicion of corruption, the complaints about corruption in the police are legion. Not only is our police regarded as corrupt, but these popular perceptions have also demoralised the Force, perhaps contributing to the malady. Legendary is the role of corrupt politicians in adding to the malaise. The only way therefore that the two precious lives lost on Friday may be redeemed in some form is to acknowledge our national failures and act quickly to avoid further tragedy.
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