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| Wednesday, 24 September 2003 |
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by Rajmi Manatunga Private bus operators yesterday blamed the low quality fuel issued by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation as one of the reasons for the high rate of road accidents since this renders their drivers medically unfit to properly carry out their task. Private Bus Owners Association Chairman Gemunu Wijeratne told a press conference yesterday that the failure to provide quality fuel for buses has resulted in a spate of grave road accidents. "During the last two years, most of our well-trained drivers have failed the medical test required to renew the driving licence owing to various ailments caused by the poisonous smoke of low-quality diesel. Therefore, we are compelled to replace them with young drivers who are prone to commit traffic offenses," he claimed. He said that 5,000 heavy vehicle drivers had failed the crucial test conducted by the National Transport Medical Institute last year alone, while 2,000 have already been refused the certificate this year. "We cannot blame the Institute for that. But this situation has made us recruit inexperienced young drivers who can get through the medical test but violate traffic laws." Wijeratne said that the CPC had turned down repeated requests by bus owners to provide quality diesel which does not emit black smoke. |
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