Road accidents claim six lives daily

Two seriously injured every two hours:

One road accident every 10 minutes:

Nadira GUNATILLEKE

Road accidents claim six lives daily in Sri Lanka, while annually between 2,000 to 2,500 lives are lost due to road accidents, a Health Ministry spokesman said.

He said two persons get seriously injured due to road accidents every two hours while one road accident occurs every 10 minutes.

The spokesman said 80,000 road accidents are reported islandwide each year. “Out of this, 30,000 are serious road accidents. The government spends between Rs. one million to Rs 10 million to treat a person who is seriously injured in a road accident,” he said.

The main reasons for the increase in road accidents are the well developed road network of the country, driving and using roads under the influence of alcohol, ignorance, carelessness and similar reasons.

The Health Ministry has declared a Road Accident Prevention Awareness Week from November 14 to 20. The week has been organized by the Accident Related Injuries Prevention Unit of the Non Communicable Disease Unit of the Health Ministry. A special programme on Road Accident Prevention Awareness Week will be held at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute on November 20 under the patronage of Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena.