Patience – more than just a virtue on the road!

According to the Police media division, 30 fatal road accidents have been reported from April 10-14 which have claimed the lives of 32 individuals

Avurudu (Sinhala and Tamil New Year) is that time of the year when a majority of the population return to their hometowns to spend quality time with loved ones. While Avurudu is the season to engage in rituals and make merry, it is also a season where people express careless and reckless attitudes. Today, it is common to see more road accidents due to reckless driving, lack of discipline and patience on the roads. 

A video posted onto a social media platform indicated how Colombo’s streets were deserted during the Avurudu weekend. This allowed certain motorists to go at top speed disobeying traffic rules. CCTV footage of several road accidents that happened during the Avurudu weekend indicated reckless driving by motorists. In one incident, a motorcycle comes in the opposite direction, clashing with a bike that was carrying an infant. The driver who was knocked down stood up in a jiffy and started beating the other motorist out who came from the opposite direction out of sheer anger. 

Such reckless driving poses a risk to drivers, passengers as well as pedestrians. It only takes a few seconds to take an innocent life away. According to the Police media division, 30 fatal road accidents have been reported from April 10-14 which have claimed the lives of 32 individuals. That means, each accident took away more than one valuable life leaving loved ones grieving and in agony for the rest of their lives. In Sri Lanka, more than 90% of reported road accidents are attributed to reckless driving. 

Today road safety has become a national tragedy as many accidents are being reported on a daily basis. According to a report by the Asian Development Bank, Road traffic crashes cost Sri Lanka around 4.9% of its gross domestic product (GDP), compared to an estimated 3% in many other countries. While many approaches have been discussed to minimize road accidents and improve road safety in Sri Lanka, nothing fruitful have come out of these proposals and suggestions over the past few years. 

When the incumbent government launched the Clean Sri Lanka programme in January this year, one of its main objectives was to minimize road accidents. The programme was launched by removing unnecessary vehicle modifications such as accessories in front of three-wheelers and buses. But this move has proven to be unsuccessful with the escalating number of road accidents that continue to make headlines. 

With the government coming under the International Monetary Fund programme, and due to less adequate funding to improve road infrastructure, certain non-infrastructure initiatives to strengthen road safety have been proposed. These include strengthening road and transport agencies, implementing road safety education and reforming governance and legal frameworks. These include enhancing the abilities of these agencies to manage road accidents through training, technology upgrades, and streamlined communication, introducing mandatory road safety education in the national curriculum to reduce accidents and save lives, especially among the younger generations, training children to be safe drivers, passengers and pedestrians and permitting qualified drivers to drive on the roads, penalising traffic offenders with multiple violations. 

Losing a life to a road accident is an event that happens in vain. A little bit of patience, slowing down on the pedestrian crossing, sticking to a speed limit, adhering to traffic rules could have saved a life as well as money that needs to be spent on an injury or fixing a damaged vehicle or property. It takes long years to recover from the trauma too. So, for those who think that speeding on the road is a ‘cool act’, it certainly isn’t cool. It is more of a dumb act that would cost one or many lives with just a slight mistake. If there’s one lesson that anybody should be taking forward in the post-Avurudu season; that is to have more patience when driving on the road!