Road traffic victims to be remembered

The Ministry of Health has called upon all Sri Lankans to observe a minute’s silence at 10:00 a.m. today to mark the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. The United Nations commemorates the third Sunday in November as the Day of Road Victims. Sri Lanka also marked a Road Safety Week from November 14. Six people are killed daily in traffic accidents in Sri Lanka while two are injured every hour. A crash is reported every 10 minutes.

Nearly 4,000 people die as a result of road accidents annually. The majority of road victims in Sri Lanka are aged 15 - 45. The State spends an enormous sum of money to treat more than 200,000 accident victims every year.

The Health Ministry plans to set up a special ‘Road Accident Victims Unit’ under the Non Communicable Diseases Branch at the Ministry. Maintaining road discipline has become a vital issue with the opening of the Southern Expressway, one week away. According to the United Nations nearly 1.3 million people lost their lives and millions of others were injured this year alone on the world’s roads.