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Road
horror speeds on With road accidents
speeding recklessly to cause 2118 deaths last year and crashing
headlong with about 1600 deaths in just the first six months this
year, various authorities are still blaming the carnage on shortcomings
in their departments or on each other. Adding to the bloody mess
and misery is the uncontrolled flow of vehicles into the country
with as many as 80,000 more vehicles been put on the roads every
year- meaning 200 new vehicles every day. The police,
the department of the Registrar of Motor Vehicles, the Transport
Ministry, The Road Development Authority and others are pointing
to the deficiencies in traffic laws and non- implementation, lack
of staff and so called infrastructure weaknesses. DIG Jayasundara
admitted the police had to play a bigger and more effective role,
but he complained of a lack of staff, vehicles and other resources. "We need
a hundred percent increase in staff. But for starters I have requested
for a 50% cadre increase," he said. Explaining
the strain on human resources the traffic chief said police officers
were over-worked. "It's difficult to concentrate after four
hours on the road. A policeman can be alert only for four hours.
Yet, in places like Kadawatha which is an area prone to accidents
we need at least eight officers to work throughout the day, but
we have only three. Every traffic police branch should have a minimum
of three motor bikes, while areas such as Colpetty and Negombo need
more. But sadly, this is not the case," the DIG said. By way of solutions
DIG Jayasundara proposed a substantial increase in fines, some curbs
on the number of new vehicles which were increasing by 200 daily
and the development of roads. Speaking on
behalf of another key player, the RMV, Additional Commissioner J.I.
Herath said indiscipline driving was the main cause of most accidents
and drivers needed to take more responsibility for themselves, other
motorists and pedestrians. "We issue
licences after practical and written tests. But if the driver gets
drunk while driving, it's beyond our control," she said. Pointing out
that the RMV issued about 15,000 licences including renewals every
month. After months
and years of promises regarding a tough new Motor Traffic Bill,
Transport Minister Tilak Marapana has now said that he believed
the existing Motor Traffic Act should be enforced more strictly
with a few new regulations instead of bringing in an entirely new
Act. However, officials who have been commissioned to draft a new
act say the authorities shouldn't overlook the draft act, but at
least take certain important provisions for implementation. The existing
Act was drafted in 1937 with the last amendment being made in 1982.
Transport Ministry
secretary Cecil Amerasinghe said they were looking at new regulations
such as mandatory seat belts, random alcohol testing in the blood
and reducing the permitted alcohol levels and increasing the penalty.
He said the Ministry hoped to implement those and other regulations
from January. Meanwhile Marga Mithuro( Friends on the road) a private body involved in road safety matters in focusing attention on the human factors of the problem. "We want to address behavioural problems and discipline before getting onto other issues," the movements leader Karunasena Hettiarachchi said. In addition to carrying out awareness programmes for three wheeler drivers and bus drivers, Marga Mithuro has proposed multi-storied parking lots to reduce congestion on the roads.
NTMI chairman
Dr. Gamini Karunanayake said that at present a police officer had
the right to determine whether a driver involved in an accident
should be produced before a medical board to ascertain his fitness.
Dr. Karunanayake said he believed that right given to police officers
in a recent circular issued by the IGP should be withdrawn and all
drivers involved in accidents should be hauled up before the Medical
Board. To back up
his claim Dr. Karunanayake pointed out that three months after this
circular was issued, the police had produced only 45 drivers before
the Medical Board though there would have been hundreds of accidents. Dr. Karunanayake
is of the view that medical fitness problems of drivers contribute
as much as indiscipline or irresponsibility in road accidents. Although the
IGP's circular orders medical examinations, one of the clauses gives
authority to police officers to assess the medical fitness of the
driver on their own. "The police officers make use of this
clause to determine if the drivers are fit or unfit and do not produce
them before a medical board. Even in the recent Nugegoda accident
where a mother died, the driver was not produced before the NTMI,
although that should have been done," he said. Dr. Karunanayake
underlining the urgency of remedial action said that of the 45 drivers
produced in the past three months two were found to be epileptic,
four suffered from poor vision and four others from psychological
disorders, which according to him are serious health problems for
drivers. Dr. Karunanayake
said going by the accident rate with six fatal accidents a day at
least 500 drivers should have been produced during the past three
months and he dreaded to think of the number who were unfit for
driving. The medical
expert said other common ailments heavy vehicle drivers suffer from
included fatigue, temperamental unfitness, heart disease, muscle
and joint pains, high blood pressure, diabetes, lung diseases and
defective hearing. He said in addition there were behavioural and
personality problems which contributed to alcoholism and reckless
driving. He pointed
out that though most accidents were from the Colombo district and
the western province, relatively few from there were brought to
the medical board. Dr. Karunanayake said that even in the cases where the drivers were found to be medically unfit he did not know whether their licences were eventually cancelled. He said this aspect was vital because he believed serious medical unfitness was the primary cause of accidents though often they were blamed on reckless or negligent driving. Prelate
speaks out against doctors' strikes Addressing more
than 200 doctors at a meeting held at the Sri Lanka Medical Association
auditorium, Colombo's Archbishop the Rt. Rev. Oswald Gomis said
doctors in recent years resorted to regular work stoppages for reasons
which many lay people saw as flimsy. " The
serious consequences of this type of action are suffered by all
persons but especially by poor patients who do not have the means
to afford the luxury of private consultation," the Archbishop
said. Citing other
issues which had damaged the reputation of the medical profession,
the Archbishop said he was highlighting those cases not to condemn
the doctors but to lay bare the truth before them and urge them
to take effective counter action. Citing two
cases which he was personally aware of, the Archbishop said it was
a common complaint that and rightly so, in many cases that doctors
these days were out for money and medicine was a lucrative business.
"The fact that some doctors prescribe the drugs before even
talking to the patient and the fact that so many are examined in
so short a time, make the people question whether the doctors are
diagnosing or light reading," he lamented. The archbishop
specifically referred to the case of a student of his who was asked
to be rushed to surgery. The doctor having got some tests done and
having obtained a report claimed he was not satisfied with it. He
himself then wanted to do the tests and prepared a second report.
He had then proposed urgent surgery when fortunately the day before
the patient had to enter hospital , they met another gynaecologist
who had read the reports and questioned what was wrong. Having remarked
that the report did not indicate anything wrong he had given her
some tablets which set the whole problem right in two weeks. Incidentally
they were told to be ready with 100,000 Rupees for the operation.
The Archbishop
called on the doctors to be conscious of their commitment to time
honoured ethics and moral values, to give full respect to the human
dignity and rights of every patient. He described abortion as a
'heinous crime tantamount to the murder of the innocent". The Archbishop also paid tribute to the large number of doctors who were involved in service with dedication, self-sacrifice and love. "There are thousands of doctors who work for the welfare of society. They deserve our gratitude and sincere appreciation. I personally know of doctors whom we could be proud of," he said. |
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