Road accidents on the rise

Nadira GUNATILLEKE

There were 1,527 major fatal road accidents reported in Sri Lanka upto September this year where a total of 1,750 persons lost their lives, Police Media Spokesperson SSP Maxi Proctor said.

Addressing the media at the Sri Lanka Press Complaints Commission yesterday SSP Proctor said a total of 13,463 persons had been injured due to road accidents while 13,590 properties had been damaged during the same duration. The total number of accidents (all types) that occurred during the past nine months were 28,625. The government spends millions of rupees to treat accident victims and to solve related matters.

According to SSP Proctor, a total of 632 fatal accidents occurred during the third quarter of 2011 killing 73 drivers, 220 motorcyclists, 72 cyclists and 315 pedestrians. The largest number of killed were pedestrians. The total number of deaths were 680.

”The media should act responsibly while reporting accidents and other disasters. Dead bodies should not be displayed in visuals and photographs because it is harmful for the readers and viewers. People do not like to see such things. Sometimes such visuals provoke and mislead people,” he added.