Road safety public awareness programme

Campaign themed ‘Long Short Walk’ will be dedicated mainly to pedestrians’ safety:

Ridma Dissanayake

A Public Awareness Programme on Road Safety will be conducted by the Automobile Association of Sri Lanka at several venues in Colombo and suburbs on May 7 and 8 to coincide with the Second UN Global Road Safety Week organised by the Federation Internationale de L’ Automobile (FIA), yesterday.

The venues are Castle Street opposite Castle Street Women’s Hospital, Victoria Home for Elders and Ratmalana, opposite the Deaf and Blind School.

The campaign themed ‘Long Short Walk’ will be dedicated mainly to pedestrians safety, Automobile Association Secretary Dewapriya Hettiarachchi said.

According to police reports around 900 pedestrian deaths were reported in 2011.

After three decades of terrorism in the country, road accidents are recorded as the highest killer in Sri Lanka, he said.

Most pedestrian deaths occur due to human error. The use of alcohol by drivers and pedestrians or both, inadequate vision of the driver or the pedestrian or both, lack of knowledge on road etiquette, highway observation, lackadaisical attitude and lacking in judgment are the contributory causes for pedestrian deaths and injuries.

The lack of safe infrastructure is also another reason, he said.

The public are invited to share any visuals at any time and at any place to illustrate safety improvements and forward their visuals to email address: [email protected].