Marked drop in crime, accidents

Sandasen Marasinghe and Ridma Dissanayake

A significant drop in crime and accidents was observed this festive season compared to the previous Sinhala and Tamil Hindu New Year period, Police Spokesman SP Ajith Rohana said. “This is due to various reasons including the prevalence of peace in the country,” he said.

SP Rohana told the Daily News that where the entire country is concerned, only 16 fatal accidents were reported during the 72 hours ending by 6 am on Sunday.

“There were only 61 serious road accidents reported of the 323 accidents reported islandwide.” he said. SP Rohana said only two murders were reported during the festive season which is a notable drop during festive seasons. He said although they are yet to receive the statistics, a remarkable drop in burglaries, robberies, chain snatching etc was observed this time compared to previous years.

The Police said 254 drunk drivers were nabbed while 434 were brought to book for reckless driving including speeding during the same period. He said the Police apprehended 704 persons for brewing and selling illicit liquor.

The SP noted the number of firecracker accidents were as low as three this year.

He added that it seemed that the crime rate had dropped due to the violence free atmosphere in the country during the last few years.

According to the Police Media Spokesman, the number of road traffic accidents, reckless driving and driving under the influence of liquor saw a drastic drop due to the extra deployment of Police officers on roads and other strategic points on 24 hour duty on all three days. Colombo National Hospital Out Patient Department director Dr Cyril de Silva said only 66 domestic accidents were reported which is a remarkable drop by 40 percent compared to last year.

He said only two firecracker accidents were reported, the same as last year.

He said 75 persons were brought to the Colombo National Hospital for treatment for injuries suffered from violent incidents.

Dr de Silva said this was an increase by 21 percent compared to last year. He said 223 persons were admitted to the Colombo National Hospital, out of which 69 were those transferred from other hospitals.