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Government Urges Public Caution to Reduce Road Accidents and Firework Incidents During the New Year Season

> Fatal Accidents on Expressways Expected to Increase in 2024
> The 1955 Hotline Operational 24/7 for Reporting Traffic Violations by Drivers
> Rest Areas for Fatigued Drivers Implemented to Prevent Expressway Accidents

The government is urging the public to exercise caution and minimize road accidents and firework-related incidents during the upcoming Sinhala and Tamil New Year season. Reports indicate that a significant portion of accidents during this festive period, approximately 36%, are attributed to the use of fireworks, along with 17% of eye injuries reported during this time are due to the use of firecrackers and fireworks.

In response to these concerns, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Health have collaborated on a special program aimed at raising awareness and reducing incidents of road accidents and firework-related injuries during the festive season.

Meanwhile, a special press conference was convened on 09.04.2024 at the Presidential Media Center (PMC) by the Ministry of Transport and the National Council on Road Safety. The purpose of this media briefing was to inform the public about measures being taken to mitigate road accidents during the festive period.

Dr. Sajith Ranathunga, a consultant surgeon at the National Hospital Colombo, highlighted the concerning increase in fatalities resulting from head-on collisions, three-wheeler accidents, and motorcycle accidents. He emphasized that many individuals injured in these severe accidents have yet to fully recover, underscoring the long-term impact of such incidents. Dr. Ranathunga noted that a significant proportion of fatal accidents occur outside of expressways, with approximately ten deaths occurring daily as a result. He urged the public to exercise caution and take proactive measures to mitigate road accidents.

Acting Director General of the National Transport Commission Ms. Nayomi Jayewardene provided insights into ongoing efforts to address road safety concerns. She outlined an awareness program targeting bus owners and drivers aimed at reducing accidents involving buses during the festive season. Additionally, Ms. Jayewardene highlighted the operation of a dedicated hotline, 1955, available round-the-clock to report drivers violating traffic regulations. She assured prompt responses from officials to address complaints received through this hotline, thereby enhancing road safety measures.

Eng. Priyantha Sooriya Bandara, Director General of the Road Development Authority, addressed the media briefing, emphasizing the preparations underway to manage the influx of vehicles on expressways during the festive season. With an estimated two hundred thousand vehicles expected to utilize the expressways, arrangements are being made to keep toll booths open at all gates. Additionally, cashiers stationed at these toll booths are advised to ensure they have sufficient change available for the convenience of drivers, thereby mitigating traffic congestion. In an effort to enhance safety on the expressways, plans are in place to establish resting areas for fatigued drivers ahead of the New Year Season. Eng. Sooriya Bandara urged all drivers to exercise discipline and adhere to traffic regulations to minimize accidents during the festive season, particularly on the expressways.

Dr. Chamod Hettiarachchi, a member of the Advisory Committee for Expressway Safety Actions provided insights during the media briefing, highlighting key statistics and factors contributing to accidents on expressways. He emphasized that 56% of accidents on expressways are attributed to driver negligence, underscoring the grave consequences of such incidents. Among these accidents, 35% resulted in fatalities or permanent disabilities, illustrating the severity of the issue. Over the thirteen years since the construction of the Southern Expressway, a total of 9,375 road accidents have been recorded, with 5,292 attributed to driver negligence. Tragically, these accidents claimed the lives of 66 individuals and left 637 permanently disabled.

Dr. Hettiarachchi further noted that survey reports have identified three main reasons for accidents on expressways: driver negligence, vehicle maintenance issues and accidents caused by third parties. These findings underscore the importance of addressing these factors comprehensively to enhance expressway safety and mitigate the risk of accidents.

Senior Superintendent of Police Mr. Mayura Perera, Director of the Southern Expressway Police Division, provided an update on expressway accidents during the briefing. He highlighted that in the year 2024, there have been 07 fatal accidents on expressways thus far, indicating an increase compared to the previous two years. In 2022, there were 17 fatal accidents recorded on expressways, while in 2023, the number reduced to 04. In light of these statistics, Mr. Perera urged all drivers to prioritize road safety and adhere to disciplined driving practices, especially during the festive season, to contribute to reducing accidents on expressways.

Mr. Thushara Suraweera, Additional Secretary to the Ministry of Transport and Highways, addressed the need for updating regulations in the Motor Traffic Act to address accidents caused by distracted driving due to the use of new technological communication tools. He emphasized the importance of adapting rules to current conditions to enhance road safety. Furthermore, Mr. Suraweera highlighted the intention to standardize driver's license requirements through driver training programs. This initiative aims to cultivate disciplined drivers by instilling a change in attitude towards road safety and responsible driving practices.

Director General (Technology) of the Ministry of Transport and Highways Mr. J.I.D. Jayasundara, along with Chairman of the National Council for Road Safety Mr. M.K.R. Gunaratne and other officials participated in the event to address road safety concerns and initiatives for the upcoming festival season.

Extracted from President’s Media Division (PMD)

The Ministry of Transport invites visionary investors to participate in an unprecedented opportunity to redefine the urban landscape by developing the six major railway stations mainly Slave Island, Kollupitiya, Bambalapitiya, Wallawatta, Dehiwala & Mount Lavinia through the ppp model.

Apart from this, investors have been given the opportunity to submit proposals for any railway station in Sri Lanka through ppp format.

In order to provide a better investment plan, the survey plan of the above six major stations is available for download.

In addition, if the proposal plan is given for another railway station, the survey plan of that railway station should be requested and obtained.

Daily 10000 passengers enjoy the convenience of traveling through each of the above stations and 100 trains run through them daily.

Points to be considered while presenting the project plan.

• Ground floor and first floor shall be for train running and passenger activities.
• Submission of the detailed plan

For more Details....

Vimukthi - +94 77 564 7201

Asanka - +94 70 358 6918

Nayomi- +94 71 820 4965

කොළඹ - බදුල්ල දුම්රිය මාර්ගයේ ශත වර්ෂ පූර්ණය සමරණුවස්, " දුන්හිඳ ඔඩිසි"  නව දුම්රිය 2024-04-05  පෙරවරුවේ  ප්‍රවාහන මහාමාර්ග හා ජනමාධ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය, ආචාර්ය  බන්දුල ගුණවර්ධන මහතාගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් කොළඹ කොටුව දුම්රිය ස්ථානයෙන් බදුල්ල බලා සිය මංගල ගමන ආරම්භ කරන ලදී.

කොළඹ - බදුල්ල දුම්රිය මාර්ගයට වසර 100 ක් සපිරෙන සැමරුම් උළෙල අද බදුල්ලේදී අති උත්කර්ශවත් අයුරින් පැවැත්විනි. කොටුවෙන් ගමන් ඇරඹි නව දුන්හිඳ ඔඩිසි දුම්රියේ, අරාධිත අමුත්තන් සහ මාධ්‍යවේදීන් ද සමගින් බදුල්ල බලා ධාවනය විය. මෙම මංගල ගමනට ප්‍රවාහන මහාමාර්ග හා ජනමාධ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය, ආචාර්ය  බන්දුල ගුණවර්ධන මහතාද දුංහිද ඔඩිසියෙන් වේයන්ගොඩ දුම්රිය ස්ථානය දක්වා පැමිණි අතර පසුව වයිස්රෝයි දුම්රියෙන් බදුල්ල දක්වා ගමන් ගන්නා ලදී.

මෙම ශතවර්ෂ පූර්ණය වෙනුවෙන් දුන්හිඳ ඔඩිසි දුම්රියට අමතරව නානුඔය දුම්රිය ස්ථානයේ සිට බදුල්ල බලා තවත් සුඛෝපභෝගී දුම්රියක්වන වයිස්රෝයි (Viceroy)  දුම්රිය ද විශේෂ ආරාධිත අමුත්තන් බදුල්ල වෙත රැගෙන බදුල්ලට ලගා වූ අතර වට ආවරණයන්ගෙන් තොරවූ "කැලිප්සෝ" නම් විශේෂ නැරඹුම් පහසුකම් සහිත දුම්රියත්  සියවස් සැමරුමට එක්විය. මෙම කැලිප්සෝ දුම්රිය, ප්‍රවාහන හා මහාමාර්ග අමාත්‍ය, ආචාර්ය බන්දුල ගුණවර්ධන මහතාගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් ජනතා සේවයට කැප කිරීම ද මෙහිදී සිදු වූ විශේෂිත කර්තව්‍යයකි.

මෙම කැලිප්සෝ දුම්රිය, ස්වභාව සෞන්දර්‍යය නැරඹීම වෙනුවෙන්ම සකස් කොට ඇති අතර ආහාරපාන මෙන්ම සංගීතය වැනි විනෝදාස්වාදන අංගයන්ගෙන්ද සමන්විතවේ.  මෙහි විශේෂත්වය වන්නේ,  නානුඔය සිට බදුල්ල දක්වා වූ අතිශය සුන්දර ස්ථාන ග්‍රහණය කරගන්නා ස්වභාව සෞන්දර්‍යය චාරිකාවක් වීමයි.  මෙම බදුල්ල කොළඹ දුම්රිය මාර්ගය, දෙස් විදෙස් සංචාරකයන්ගේ සුවිශේෂී අවධානයට යොමුවන්නකි. විදෙස් සංචාරක ආකර්ශනය හේතුවෙන්, ශ්‍රී ලංකා ආර්ථිකයට මෙන්ම විදේශ විනිමය වෙනුවෙන්ද මෙමගින් ලැබෙන ප්‍රථිලාභය අතිවිශාල වේ.

ප්‍රවාහන හා මහාමාර්ග අමාත්‍යාංශය, දුම්රිය දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව එක්ව සංවිධානය කරනු ලැබූ මෙම සියවස් පූර්ණ සැමරුම සඳහා රේඛීය සංචාරක අමාත්‍යාංශය මෙන්මඌව පළාත් සංචාරක අමාත්‍යාංශයද සිය දායකත්වය  ලබාදී තිබේ.

කොළඹ - බදුල්ල දුම්රිය මගෙහි සියවස් සැමරුම සංකේතවත් කරමින් තැපැල් දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව විසින් රු. 25/- ක   වටිනාකමකින් යුත් නව තැපැල් මුද්දරයක්ද නිකුත් කිරීම ද මෙහිදී සිදු වූ තවත් විශේෂිත කටයුත්තකි.

අමාත්‍ය, ආචාර්ය බන්දුල ගුණවර්ධන මහතාගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් බදුල්ලේදී පැවැති මෙම කොළඹ - බදුල්ල දුම්රිය සියවස් සැමරුම වෙනුවෙන්, ප්‍රවාහන හා මහාමාර්ග අමාත්‍යාංශ ලේකම් ඉංජිනේරු රංජිත් රූබසිංහ මහතා ඇතුළු අමාත්‍යාංශයේ සහ ඊට අනුබද්ධ ආයතනයන්හි ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ නිලධාරීන්ද, ඌව පලාත් දේශපාලනාධිකරියද සහභාගී වූහ.  

Ministry of Transport and Highways and the Department of Motor Traffic have jointly planned a new system to issue Sri Lankan driving licenses for foreigners without any hassle anymore.

Through this new system to be go live from 15^thApril, 2024, foreigner visiting Sri Lanka can apply for a driver's license at the airport itself and obtain them on the spot. Department of Motor Traffic is collaborating with Ministry of Tourism, Department of Immigration and Emigration and Civil Aviation Authority to implement this newest initiative.

There will be different fee structures for this service based on the validity period applied for the license. Accordingly, it is planned to charge 25USD for a one-month driver's license, 50USD for three months, 75 USD for six months and 200USD for a year or more.

It is expected that this new service will offer a more efficient and transparent service than the previous  process where all foreigners had to visit Werahera to obtain their Sri Lankan driving licenses and also encourage them to obtain this service more frequently. It is also expected that tourism in Sri Lanka will be facilitated more with this new initiative and eventually it will help improve the country’s economy as well.