Seldom does a day pass in this country without shooting incidents or fatal accidents making headlines. On Thursday night, a bus toppled down a precipice near the famous Ravana Falls on the Ella-Wellawaya road, killing 15 passengers and injuring about dozen others. Some of the injured were in a critical condition in the Badulla hospital. The ill-fated vehicle was on its way back from Ella to Tangalle, carrying about 30 municipal workers on a pleasure trip. In May 2025, a state-owned bus plunged down a steep cliff, near the picturesque Gerandi Ella, in Ramboda, leaving 22 passengers dead.
It was ennobling to see the residents of the area, doctors, the police, the armed forces members and ambulance crews rushing to the scene of the accident in record time and carrying out rescue operations under trying conditions on Thursday night. Soldiers and others had to rappel down a steep cliff, risking life and limb, to reach the wreck of the bus with victims trapped in it.
The breathtaking, panoramic view of mist-clad mountains and green slopes and steep cliffs along the serpentine, scenic roads, such as Ella-Wellawaya highway, could be deceptive. Navigating these tortuous terrains safely requires vehicles in good condition and drivers with special skills besides warnings of earth-slips, rockfalls, etc., that not only make roads impassable but also snuff out lives. What really caused Saturday’s tragedy was not known at the time of writing, but most such accidents occur due to drivers’ carelessness or technical defects of vehicles. Overreliance on brakes to curb speed downhill is a common mistake many inexperienced drivers make in hilly areas, especially along the steep slope between Ella and Wellawaya, road safety experts inform us. This practice causes what is known as brake fade; brakes get overheated as a result and fail, causing fatal accidents.
Close on the heels of the Ramboda tragedy, the police and the Department of Motor Traffic (DMT) launched a vehicle inspection programme, and detected several buses, both private and state-owned, which were not roadworthy and ordered that they be repaired before being put back on the road. Action was also taken to deal with drivers’ fatigue. But nothing has since been heard about that initiative, which should be continued to ensure road safety. It may not be possible for the police and the DMT to check each and every vehicle plying on treacherous roads in the hill country or elsewhere, but they can step up random checks. The police should discontinue the practice of hiding near sharp bends or colour lights until motorists commit transgressions to fine them and increase government revenue. They should concentrate more on preventing traffic law violations and road accidents than imposing fines to meet revenue targets that governments are believed to set for them.
Sri Lanka apparently has more than its fair share of road tragedies. In the immediate aftermath of the Ramboda accident, we pointed out, quoting researchers, how dangerous Sri Lankan roads had become. A World Bank report, Delivering Road Safety in Sri Lanka; Leadership Priorities and Initiatives to 2030, reveals that ‘the high road crash fatality and injury rates on Sri Lanka’s roads undermine the economic growth and progress made over the past decade on reducing poverty and boosting prosperity’. The report goes on to say the annual crash deaths per capita in Sri Lanka are twice the average rate in high-income countries and five times that of the best performing countries in the world! Sri Lanka reportedly has the worst road fatality rate among its immediate neighbours in the South Asia region.
The fact that Sri Lanka has the worst road safety record in the South Asian region is an indictment on the DMT, the police and all others, including policymakers and politicians, responsible for making roads safe. Their strategies have not yielded the desired results, all these years, and road fatalities remain unnervingly high, with the root causes thereof remaining unaddressed to all intents and purposes. Not even roadside drug tests are conducted regularly although narcotic addition is widespread among drivers.
Road surface enhancement should be paired with comprehensive safety measures if accidents are to be prevented. Well-laid arterial roads run through townships, without sidewalks or colour lights at intersections. Vehicles, especially buses and trucks, speed on them, endangering the lives of all road users.
The incumbent NPP government, which came to power, promising to upend old, discredited systems, ought to set its mind to overhauling the existing road safety strategies and initiatives and ensure that they meet international standards and help save lives.
