Driver demerit-point system rollout delayed
Sri Lanka’s road crisis has come to a point of no return, yet the much-awaited driver demerit-point system remains in bureaucratic oblivion. Despite the awarding of its contract in September 2024 the system is yet to be launched, with errant drivers walking scot-free and thousands of lives at risk.
The 2024 official figures paint a grim picture: road accidents rose to 25,299 a five-year high with 2,521 deaths, compared to 2,341 in 2023.
The carnage has continued into 2025, with 802 fatal wrecks and 845 deaths in the first four months alone. Police report that through April, nearly 600 people had died in 565 fatal crashes, one life for nearly every road traffic accident.
The vulnerable users such as pedestrians and cyclists contribute to around 70 per cent of the fatalities, and overcrowded buses and fatigued drivers have been responsible for fatal accidents such as the Kotmale bus accident that occurred in May 2025, which resulted in 22 deaths.
Experts opine that since there is no efficient demerit-point system, habitual offenders have managed to evade punishment.
Enforcement remains chiefly reliant on spot fines today, which can bring about state revenues in the short term but have minimal impact on protracted offenders.
A senior official of the Motor Traffic Department said: “If drivers accumulate the maximum demerit points, their licenses will be cancelled,” but without a digital monitoring framework, such accountability remains theoretical.
The failure to act on the system during the previous regime has already had severe consequences for public safety and national productivity.
The systemic long-term solutions are required forthwith. Transport experts and the authorities agree that the government must enforce the digital traffic observation and demerit system as it was initially sanctioned with effect forthwith.
Creation of a national drivers’ behaviour database would allow the authorities to detect and restrict high-risk drivers before they cause further harm, the official said.
The current demerit point system being developed and approved in 2024 and 2025 involves awarding demerit points for 24 different traffic offenses, with license suspension occurring at 24 points.
An integrated electronic solution has to be implemented to manage fines for non-court-handled offenses and the demerit point system.
The delay in awarding the procurement contract erodes public trust and undermines the effectiveness of reform a official of the Automobile Association said.
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