Road crashes kill over 12,000 lives in five years
- 5opn1
- January 11, 2025
- Political
- Road crashes
- 0 Comments
Senior Professor of Forensic Medicine at Karapitiya Hospital U.C.P Perera said it was a matter of serious concern that the fatalities in road accidents have been increasing at a large proportion every year and that 118,240 road accidents had occurred in Sri Lanka for the last five years up to December 2024 claiming 12,140 human lives.
“The number of accidents reported in 2020 was 23,704, and 2,363 fatalities were reported. In 2021, there were 22,847 accidents and 2,557 deaths. In 2022, 2,540 persons had died in accidents. There were 21,953 road accidents in that year.
In 2023, the number of road accidents stood at 24,877. According to reports, 2,321 people died in road crashes in that year.
In 2024, the death rate in road accidents stood at 2,359 from 24,859 accidents.
“It is sad that the road accidents and the death rate have been increasing despite various road safety programmes. The government has taken steps to import more vehicles. The UNO had laid down guidelines with a target to reduce the rate of accidents by 50 per cent of that reported in 2020. However, the rate of accidents increased by 100 per cent.
The rate of accidents in Sri Lanka is the highest in South Asia in proportion to the population and the land area. Ir is imperative that a Presidential Task Force is formed to resolve this major issue affecting the country,” Prof. Perera further said.
He proposed the establishment of a presidential task force to reduce the number of accidents as otherwise it would trigger a serious social crisis.
By D.G.Sugathapala
