Safety for Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is struggling to deal with a road safety problem that is crippling and killing large numbers of its citizens. In the past three decades over 40,000 people have been killed and 68,440 seriously injured in 1,120,848 road mishaps in Sri Lanka according to official reports. Unreported accidents mean that the actual figures may be far higher however. Young people face particular safety problems in the country and in 2011 225 schoolchildren were killed in road accidents while 4,100 others critically injured. In 2010, 223 children died in road accidents while 3,400 others suffered serious injuries. School buses pose a threat, with vehicle condition and poor driving being major problems. Nine children were recently injured when their school bus was involved in a head-on collision with another vehicle, while in 2008 a child was killed when she fell through a hole in the floor of the bus taking her to school. There are now calls to enforce safety checks on the country’s large numbers of privately run buses that take many children to and from school, ensuring that these conform with safety regulations and that the drivers are properly licensed and trained