Road safety awareness campaign
At the rate road accidents, which could be termed ‘road terrorism’, take place each day, the number of deaths will soon exceed 60,000 which is above the casualty figures of the three-decade war, causing a colossal loss to the economy, Chevron Lanka PLC Managing Director and CEO Kishu Gomes told a ‘Road Safety’ awareness campaign which was launched in Colombo last week.
He said the number of deaths will certainly exceed 65,000 in the coming years which is a loss of around two percent of the GDP to the country. Estimates reveal that seven deaths take place each day due to fatal accidents in the country which is a grave loss to the country in terms of human capital.
“Measures should be taken to address this loss of human life on roads through a collective and collaborative effort at grass roots level,” Gomes said. The number of road accidents reported last year exceeded 30,000, the number of fatal accidents 2,590 and deaths were seven per day. This year, to-date, the number of fatal accidents is 1,313 and if the trend continues, according to experts, there would be 36 deaths added to this figure by the end of the year.
The loss estimated due to road accidents a year is around Rs. 130 billion and out every of four deaths, three make a valuable contribution to the economy, according to police sources. “Sri Lanka is categorised as a high violator of road rules compared to many countries in the region,” Gomes said.
Negligence, speed, disregard for road signals, overtaking, driving after consuming alcohol, driving without license, non use of safety measures such as seat belts and helmets, sudden U terns are some of the major reason for road accidents.
The road safety campaign was launched by Chevron Lubricants Lanka PLC in collaboration with TV Derana, EBC Limited and the 1982 class of S Thomas College, Mount Lavinia.
The first phase of the program will commence on Tuesday, October 25 in Mutwal and awareness programs will be conducted in Negombo, Jaffna, Batticaloa and Matara. The program will conclude on November 5 at the Thomian Fair.
The programs entails the Caltex Drive Wise Embrace Life - 2016 Cycle Parade which will travel 1,300 km in 12 days around the country, road safety awareness programs for school children in 25 schools, seminars, art and easy competitions, seminars on road safety for adults and mini carnivals.