Ceylon Today Editorial

ROAD ACCIDENTS: WORSE THAN TERRORISM

19th October 2015

 

Recently Minister of Transport, Nimal Siripala de Silva told a news briefing that 2, 549 deaths caused by road accidents were reported within the first nine months of this year. Quoting statistics of the previous year, he said that 36, 050 road accidents were reported with 2, 440 deaths. That is an increase of 349 deaths over the same period of last year and only nine months of this year have passed as of yet.

The Transport Minister did not forget to mention that the increase in the numbers calls for a national need to take immediate steps to prevent the increase in road accidents. He added in order to prevent road accidents new laws should be introduced while increasing public awareness on reducing the numbers was essential. He called for the formulation of a national policy on road safety that should be implemented on a long-term plan.

These observations have been the kokatath thailaya and the proverbial panacea for all ills for all the ministers who held this position (not necessarily specific to the Ministry of Transport but to all, as our readers would surely know) when they are faced with dire statistics that calls for change. This does not necessarily accuse Minister de Silva for making the observations of increasing the public's awareness and the call for new laws to prevent road accidents. The same observations have been made by his predecessors but things are still the same in our country when it comes to preventing these accidents. In fact, nothing has been prevented but it has very well increased exponentially.

In 2010, after the onslaught against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) ended in 2009, the then government established a Closed Circuit Television Cameras System (CCTV) Division of the Police Department. This division installed 105 closed circuit cameras at main intersections in the Colombo City and those continuously transmit images that could be viewed at the control room on 28 LCD screens. Moreover, the unit is capable of storing images for several days. According to the then government, these surveillance cameras were used for 'National Security Purposes,' as well as for the City Traffic Management that has a daily average of over 200,000 vehicles in to the City of Colombo.

One of the responsibilities of the CCTV Division of the Police was also to aid other authorities in traffic detection and management. Since there is no need of addressing dire needs of National Security Purposes, cannot these surveillance cameras be used completely for traffic detection and management is a question worth asking our dear minister in this case. If these cameras were active 24/7, road traffic accidents could have been reduced but unfortunately none of that is taking place.

When the late Wijayapala Mendis held the position of the Transport Minister of the Cabinet, heavy vehicles such as trucks, lorries and containers were not allowed to commute busy roads during peak hours of traffic. However, that law is being ignored these days and all sorts of heavy vehicles are frequently seen in the heart of Colombo and adjacent areas, stuck in traffic or creating traffic. These cumbersome vehicles are rather hard to control and in the face of an accident, the driver does not have enough time to control the vehicle. New acts and laws should be passed to bring this back, allowing these vehicles to frequent the roads after 10 p.m.. Furthermore, it was reported that a special licence was to be provided for the drivers of these heavy and long vehicles by the Motor Traffic Department and the necessary authorities. These licences should be given after a proper feasibility study of the drivers and an examination of their skills which are necessary to handle such vehicles eliminating the possibility of creating an accident in a crowded area. Otherwise, these vehicles are simply an accident waiting to happen.

More so, the public witnessed a gruesome accident that involved a Defender jeep of the Ministerial Security Division with two buses, which resulted in the death of all five security officers inside the vehicle. These Defender jeeps, have their way on public highways at full force and speed to get wherever they want regardless of who decides to cross their path. They are a potential threat to the pedestrians, other drivers as well as to themselves. Proper laws should be taken up against them as if the government is to address these road accidents without simply talking about it when things get worse.

Daily Mirror Editorial

Prisoners are human beings too

It is not clear whether the Tamil remand prisoners languishing for years in various prisons in the country started their hunger strike on October 12 spontaneously calling for their immediate release or whether advised by the legal eagles within their community to do so. Whatever it is, it seems to be the opportune time for an agitation of this nature in the wake of the government working hard to get into the good books of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) after the regime change in January while the question of these prisoners are also under the microscope.

There are subtle opposition cries against the release of these prisoners suspected of activities planned by or supportive of the LTTE. Some say these prisoners may be used as witnesses against the armed forces during the domestic judicial mechanism proposed by the US-led resolution at the UNHRC sessions this year amid claims that hardcore terrorists who had committed grave crimes against the people of this country are to be let loose.

However, this is a country where a person like Kumaran Pathmanathan alias KP who supplied weapons to the dreaded LTTE to kill and maim tens of thousands of people, the majority of whom were innocent civilians, has been at large without a case being filed against him at least at a Conciliation Board.

Similarly, Vinayagamurthi Muralitharan alias Karuna Amman who is alleged to have ordered the cold-blooded butchering of more than 600 police personnel who had surrendered to his armed group and thousands of people in the villages adjacent to the North and the East was offered the post of vice president of the ruling party.  None of the “patriots” uttered a word against these moves by the previous regime.

Two important questions need to be raised in respect of these remand prisoners who are agitating for their release. One, should the authorities release these suspects forthwith without considering the offences they are alleged to have committed. Two, should they be detained for years without cases being filed against them if there is sufficient evidence against them. The answer to both those questions is an emphatic ‘no.”

The biggest challenge the government is facing at the moment is the addressing of the accountability issues as urged by the UNHRC and the human rights organisations around the world. However, accountability is not something that has to be addressed only by the government. Each of those mentioned has to be held accountable for his or her actions and KP or Karuna Amman or the LTTE suspects agitating for their release cannot be exceptions. But on the other hand, the authorities have no moral right and it is profoundly inhuman to incarcerate a person for an incredibly long time without trial.

One might argue that the Attorney General’s Department has to await the investigation reports of the police and the CID to prosecute these suspects, but on the other hand one should not forget that these suspects were arrested before the end of the war and more than six years ago. The shortest period of incarceration of the LTTE suspects has been six years and if one argues that the authorities need more than six years to investigate and prosecute them, it is nothing but an immoral justification of lethargy.

The seven-point plan suggested in this regard by Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran who is also a former Supreme Court Judge would be an appropriate solution. Though Mr. Wigneswaran was branded as an extremist in recent times he has not suggested an immediate release of these prisoners without considering the offences they had allegedly committed. He has urged the authorities to categorise the prisoners according to their alleged offences and to take legal action immediately while having them released on bail. There cannot be a security threat in releasing them on bail because some 11,000 former combatants including hardcore fighters are already at large without being such a threat, after a so-called rehabilitation process.