New laws to ensure drivers' physical fitness
 

BY RAJMI Manatunga

THE Transport Ministry will shortly bring in new laws to ensure the physical fitness of drivers of all types of vehicles as a precondition to their driving licence.

The new regulations will make it mandatory for all persons applying for a driving licence to prove his or her physical fitness at a test conducted exclusively by the National Transport Medical Institute (NTMI), Transport Deputy Minister Lasantha Alagiyawanne said.

In terms of the present law, only the applicants of heavy vehicle driving licences have to pass the fitness test conducted by the NTMI while applicants for other types of driving licences (for light and dual purpose vehicles) could prove their fitness through private medical certificates.

"The high rate of motor traffic accidents that take place on our roads has raised doubts about the credibility of these medical certificates obtained from outside. In fact we have discovered that around 13 per cent of all road accidents take place due to unfit drivers," he said.

According to NTMI Chairman Dr. Ruwan Wijayamuni, out of 800 drivers involved in road accidents who were referred to the Institute in the year 2004, 106 were found unfit to drive a vehicle.

"Twelve per cent of these unfit drivers had vision problems while there were five percent of diabetics and three per cent suffering from high-blood pressure. The majority who failed to prove fitness were above the age of 41," he said.

Deputy Minister Alagiyawanne said the new regulations will be forwarded for inclusion in the Motor Traffic Act when the Government discusses amendments to the latter Act.

"Once it becomes law only the NTMI will have the authority to determine fitness for the purpose of issuing driving licences," he added.

He also said that the CID was probing a large number of cases where NTMI medical certificates had been forged and forwarded to the Motor Traffic Department for obtaining driving licences.