Consultant Community Physician of the Non Communicable Disease (NCD) Unit, Ministry of Health Dr Samitha Siritunga stressed the importance of implementing a well planned programme to prevent road traffic accidents in the country.

He said that there was an increasing trend in road traffic fatalities. According to statistics of the Police Department, around 3,153 persons were killed in road traffic accidents in 2017 and around 8 deaths reported daily in Sri Lanka due to such accidents, while the majority of them were between the ages of 15 to 44 years. Apart from that, a large number of victims become totally disabled. This situation has been a bad affect to the development of the country.

“Motorcyclists and pedestrians remain the most vulnerable to become a fatality among road users. High speed, drunk driving and the usage of mobile phones while driving, sleepiness and fatigue were the most common causes for road accidents,” the Consultant Physician said.