Make highways pollution free

Sri Lankans are well known for their ingenuity if nothing else. Who can forget that famous son of the soil who made use of toll machines in Britain without actually slipping in the coins. All he did was drop in ice cut in the exact shape and dimension of the coin into the toll machine to obtain results. This way he managed to fox the British authorities for decades. Back home we often read about the ingenious methods used for bypassing electricity and water meters by persons to enjoy reduced billing. The job is so well accomplished it escapes the attention of even the expert.

Now we hear that a way has been found to even overcome the emission tests carried out on Motor vehicles by our more enterprising minds. According to an inside story in our Tuesday's edition there has been incidents of obtaining emission certificates after adjusting parts of the vehicle before the test.

According to Motor Traffic Department Commissioner General B D L Dharmapriya some remove various parts of the vehicle and others block valves. The result - what comes out is clean non-polluting smoke and a certificate is duly issued to the vehicle owner.

The tampering obviously is done by garage mechanics for a fee, showing the innovative skills of even these ordinary garage workers with no formal education or holding certificates in automobile engineering. If only these innovative skills were put to proper use what progress would the country have made today?

The Commissioner General says they are now in the process of adjusting the testing procedure to overcome this cheating. But we for one are not going to hold our breath as to its success. Someone somewhere is bound to come up with a counter measure that would still checkmate the Motor Traffic Department.

Be that as it may, belching vehicles are still a common sight on our highways with the law enforcement officers reduced to passive onlookers as before. No effort is being made to detain such vehicles while seminars and workshops are being conducted countrywide on controlling air pollution. This continues despite the ban. One still sees rickety old jalopies chugging away on the highways emitting black noxious fumes polluting the environment, although polluting vehicles are now less in number following the ban.

It is no secret that most of the offending vehicles are private buses owned by the khakied gentry who themselves are guilty of breaching the law by permitting such vehicles to ply. Some of these buses have damaged floorboards causing the fumes to enter the interior of the buses posing a grave health hazard to the commuters.

What is astonishing is why the Police cannot apprehend these vehicles when they have been banned from our highways under the law. Instead we still come across the hilarious spectacle of Traffic Policemen wearing handkerchief muzzles to ward off the noxious fumes. Is this yet another case of Police inaction?

It is time that the Traffic Police went into action and enforce the law against polluting vehicles. It is being found that motor vehicle emission is the chief cause for many respiratory ailments and the lead content in such emission a positive agent for cancer. With vehicles growing in volume the problem could only get aggravated. Therefore alternative systems should be found to address the issue of vehicle pollution because it appears that vehicle emission testing has not brought about the desired results. The solution as we see it is stringent penalties, even prison sentences.

Vehicles that are unroadworthy should also be hounded out of our highways since these are more prone to accidents due to their dilapidated condition.

The Government should draft a proper policy with regard to highway conduct of motor vehicles. Today vehicles ply haphazardly without adhering to any rules leading to accidents and other mishaps. Private buses are the worst offenders and are a rule unto themselves. It should also seriously consider the aspect of vehicle pollution that leads to health hazards. Ideally we should have smoke free highways that would be a pleasant experience to commuters and all road users. The battle to rid environment pollution we feel should start from our highways.