The rapidly increasing accidents cause 7-8 deaths a day and injuries to many others.
Therefore, it would be a great relief to the society to minimize these accidents and save millions of money that could be utilized in the development of the country, said Dr. Sisira Kodagoda, Chairman of the National Council for Road Safety.
He added that it is the responsibility of the Council to provide a safe road system to Sri Lankan citizens.
From 01 January 2016 to 31 July, 1568 fatal accidents have occurred causing 1632 deaths. Out of them 666 accidents are of motor cycles that have caused 686 deaths.
Majority of the deceased were youths engaged in employments.Road accidents have caused a massive lost to the country's economy. The large amount of money spent on treatments for victims of accidents could have been utilized in developing infrastructure such as education.
It has been observed that many of the deaths and disabilities are caused due to wrong use of helmets and the use of substandard helmets that have impacted on causing severe damages to the head.Clarifying the characteristics of a standard helmet he added that there should not be a space between the outer surface and the inner regifoam cover and any shock from outside should be absorbed by the regifoam cover.
However, there are no SLS certified helmets in the Sri Lankan market. He added that although the Sri Lanka Standard Institute has given an opportunity for helmet importers to obtain the SLS certificate within a year, there is no positive response from the importers, which is a pathetic situation.
