Death on the highways

The spate of road accidents is rising at an alarming rate claiming innocent lives. If it is not a bus plunging down a precipice, it is a monstrous tragedy at some unprotected railway crossing claiming innocent lives. All these are lives lost in vain in this post war era where people no longer die on the roads as a result of terrorist bombs.

Today, hardly a day passes without a fatal accident being reported in some part of the country. Where one expects road accidents to be more frequent in the cities with its heavy press of traffic, the reality is that in more recent times the majority of serious accidents had occurred on roads in the provinces.

All newspapers yesterday carried front page reports of the tragedy on the Kurunegala - Dambulla road where a lorry-van collision claimed the lives of six including that of a young couple and their infant child.Ten others were critically injured in the mishap that occurred in the wee hours of the day.

Such accounts are usually read by the public, digested and then forgotten. The monumental loss of lives during the 30 year war period of terror has anaesthetized the public to death and violence. This attitude hopefully would change with the passage of time and when the peaceful climate gets more entrenched in the national psyche.

Today, our roads have become veritable death traps. On one hand we have private bus drivers who have become death dealers on the highways.On the other, there are the speed fiends especially among the youth of the new rich who have converted our roads into racing tracks. Then we have those in control of the wheel in lorries and vans who are incompetent and are not medically fit for the task. It is such a state of affairs that has led to loss of innocent lives in callous fashion.

During the war days such loss of lives in the ordinary course of events failed to draw public attention nor grab newspaper headlines. But with such incidents now gradually coming into sharp focus it behoves on the law enforcement authorities to turn their attention to this new phenomenon of deaths on our highways. Now that there are no more deaths on the roads as a result of terrorist bombs any life lost under other circumstances cannot be condoned. Our roads have to be made safe for the general public from a different enemy.

No room should be left for callous loss of lives due to recklessness or negligence. In our previous editorials we have spoken of the need for our Police Department to revert to their civilian role as quickly as possible during this post-war era to deal with the law and order situation that was largely neglected during the war years. In this respect they should accord priority to the mayhem on our roads and restore the status quo.

Now that our law enforcement authorities have time on their hands to attend to routine police duties they should in all earnest come down hard on reckless drivers and protect innocent lives. The mangled wreckage of the ill fated van shows that either one or both vehicles were travelling at tremendous speed.

The time of the accident being the early morning it should also be ascertained whether the drivers had fallen asleep at the wheel or were in fit condition to handle the vehicles. It should also be probed if they were under the influence of liquor. Taking opportunity of traffic free roads in the provinces today it is a common sight to see vehicles tearing away at breakneck speed with nary a care for the risk. Most accidents reported have occurred due to this dare devil conduct on the part of those at the wheel which invariably leads to tragedy.

It is hoped that the latest tragedy on our roads will open the eyes of authorities to take a serious look at the whole aspect of road accidents and introduce tough measures to deal with the miscreants. Those who disregard speed limits should be severely dealt with even with mandatory prison terms. It is time that the Police went to work promptly. With the defeat of terrorism, life in Sri Lanka has once more assumed a value. Loss of life in a callous fashion as witnessed on the Deduru-oya bridge should be avoided at all cost. A stringent action plan is called for to save the innocent public from monsters behind wheels.