ANALYSIS OF ROAD ACCIDENTS IN SRI LANKA - · PDF fileDepartment of Civil Engineering, University of Moratuwa, Moratuwa. ... Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002

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ANALYSIS OF ROAD ACCIDENTS

IN SRI LANKA

ANALYSIS FOR 2002

Prof. Amal S . Kumarage, University of Moratuwa

Mr. S .M. Wickremasinghe, Sri Lanka Police

Ms. M.D.R.P . Jayaratne, University of Moratuwa

October 2003

ANALYSIS OF ROAD ACCIDENTS

IN SRI LANKA

ANALYSIS FOR 2002

P r o f . A m a l S . K u m a r a g e , U n i v e r s i t y o f M o r a t u w a

M r . S . M . W i c k r e m a s i n g h e , D i r e c t o r T r a f f i c , S r i L a n k a P o l i c e

M s . M . D . R . P . J a y a r a t n e , U n i v e r s i t y o f M o r a t u w a

O c t o b e r 2 0 0 3

Copyright © October 2003

ISBN 955-9027-14-X

Printed by Supreme Group of Companies, No. 407, Kandy Road, Kelaniya

Transportation Engineering Division, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Moratuwa

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka: Analysis for 2002

50p.

ISBN 955-9027-14-X

i

FOREWORD

Road safety has finally become a concern of society. However, Sri Lanka still lacks a comprehensive and strategic action plan to provide safer roads for its citizens. There is an over reliance on traditional enforcement methods and popular beliefs on road safety. However, the lack of scientific evidence, on the reasons for road crashes in Sri Lanka has been a major handicap.

This Book is an attempt to provide some insight on the cause of accidents, through an analysis of the accident data. It seems to dispel certain myths on accidents that are popular in society, while at the same time, establish the correct position on areas or aspects of road safety that society and even professionals have been unaware of. In countries which have successful road safety programs, there is a heavy reliance on the analysis of accident records. Therein is a wealth of information that would throw much light on the primary causes, locations and types of crashes. This type of information enables road safety experts to direct limited resources for most effective road safety campaigns.

In Sri Lanka such an endeavour has not been followed as yet. This Book is the first such comprehensive analysis of the accident data which has been collected by the Police. It analyses the different aspects of recorded accidents for the years 2001 and 2002 which amounts to 52,094 and 54,911 accidents in the respective years and in particular the 1,993 and 2,038 fatal accidents which occurred in these two years. Only a summary of this data is provided in this Book. The fuller analysis can be obtained from the authors.

The results of this analysis, I believe, will provide a logical basis for the strategic plan for road safety that is to be formulated this year.

The authors wish to place on record their gratitude to the officers of the Traffic Police and officers handling the Accident Database at the Computer Division at Police Headquarters for their assistance in processing the accident data. The assistance provided by Mr. Ajitha De Zoysa, Chairman, Associated Motorways and Mr. Anumal Abeysekara, Chairman, Supreme Group of Companies, No. 407, Kandy Road, Kelaniya in printing this book is also most gratefully acknowledged.

Amal Kumarage, PhD Professor, Transportation Engineering Division,

Department of Civil Engineering,

University of Moratuwa,

Moratuwa.

30th October 2003

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Table of Contents

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY _________________________________________________________ I

CHAPTER 1 : INTRODUCTION __________________________________________________ 1

CHAPTER 2 : HAVE ACCIDENTS INCREASED?____________________________________ 2

2.1 Are the Roads less Safe Today? ___________________________________________________ 3

2.2 For whom are the Roads Most Unsafe Today? ______________________________________ 5

CHAPTER 3 : WHERE DO ROAD ACCIDENTS OCCUR? _____________________________ 7

3.1 Are some areas more accident prone? _____________________________________________ 7

3.2 Which provinces have the poorest road safety record?______________________________ 9

3.3 What Police Divisions have the poorest Road Safety Record? ______________________ 11

CHAPTER 4 : WHEN DO ACCIDENTS OCCUR? ___________________________________ 13

4.1 Is there a variation between the Days of the Week? ________________________________ 14

4.2 Is there a variation between the Months of the Year? _______________________________ 14

CHAPTER 5 : ON WHAT ROADS DO ACCIDENTS OCCUR? _________________________ 15

5.1 Are some vehicles more vulnerable during certain times of the day _________________ 15

CHAPTER 6 : WHAT ARE THE VEHICLES THAT ARE MOST INVOLVED IN ACCIDENTS? 17

6.1 Involvement by Vehicle Type _____________________________________________________ 17

6.2 Involvement in Fatal Accidents ___________________________________________________ 17

6.3 Drivers Mostly at Fault in Accidents_______________________________________________ 18

6.4 The Most Unsafe Drivers on our Roads____________________________________________ 20

CHAPTER 7 : TYPES OF ACCIDENTS ___________________________________________ 23

7.1 Are Road Accidents Mostly between Vehicles or those involving a Single Vehicle?___ 23

7.2 Single Vehicle Accidents by Vehicle Type and Object of Collision ___________________ 23 What are the Vehicles that Cause Pedestrian Accidents ________________________________ 24 What are the Vehicles that Collide with Fixed Objects __________________________________ 25

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7.3 What do we know of Vehicle-Vehicle Crashes? ____________________________________ 26

CHAPTER 8 : HIT & RUN ACCIDENTS: WHO GETS HIT AND WHO RUNS______________ 27

CHAPTER 9 : WHO ARE THE CASUALTIES OF ROAD ACCIDENTS? _________________ 29

CHAPTER 10 : WHAT ARE THE VEHICLE MANEUVERS THAT CAUSE ACCIDENTS?____ 31

CHAPTER 11 : ARE DRIVERS WITH MORE EXPERIENCE SAFER?___________________ 32

CHAPTER 12 : WHAT ARE THE PEDESTRIAN MOVEMENTS THAT RESULT IN ACCIDENTS?________________________________________________________________ 34

CHAPTER 13 : CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS ___________________________ 36

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List of Tables

Table 1: Number of Accidents (1977-2002) __________________________________________ 2

Table 2 : Road Safety Fatality as a Ratio of all Deaths _________________________________ 4

Table 3: No. and Percentage of Accidents by Class and Province (2002) __________________ 8

Table 4 : Fatality Rate by Province (2001) __________________________________________ 10

Table 5 : Distribution of Fatal Accidents in the Western Province by Time & Road Type (2001)_ 15

Table 6 : No. of Vehicles involved in Accidents (2002)_________________________________ 17

Table 7 : Faulty Rate for Fatal Accidents by Vehicle Type______________________________ 19

Table 8: Fatality Rate by Faulty Drivers by Vehicle Type (2001) _________________________ 22

Table 9: Accidents by no. of vehicles involved (2002) _________________________________ 23

Table 10 : Single Vehicle Accidents by Vehicle Type & Object of Collision (2002) ___________ 24

Table 11: Number of Single Vehicle Hit & Run Accidents by Object of Collision _____________ 28

Table 12 : Type Vehicles in 2 Vehicle Hit & Run Fatal Accidents by Object of Collision _______ 28

Table 13: Faulty Rate for Casualties ______________________________________________ 30

Table 14 : Matrix of Two Vehicle Fatal Accidents by Maneuvers of Vehicles at Time of Accident 31

Table 15 : Pedestrian Activity by Degree of Injury ____________________________________ 35

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List of Figures

Figure 1: Trends in Growth Rates (1980 = 100) _______________________________________ 3

Figure 2 : Fatal Accidents per year per One Hundred Thousand People____________________ 5

Figure 3 : Fatality Rate per 100,000 Population _______________________________________ 6

Figure 4 : Distribution of Accidents by Class (Sri Lanka, 2002) ___________________________ 7

Figure 5 : Percentage of Road Accidents by Province (2002) ____________________________ 8

Figure 6: Percentage of Fatal Road Accidents by Province (2002) ________________________ 9

Figure 7 : Ranking of Provinces for Fatality Rate _____________________________________ 10

Figure 8: Severity Index by Province (2002)_________________________________________ 11

Figure 9 : No. of Fatal Accidents by Police Divisions (2001 & 2002) ______________________ 11

Figure 10 : Accidents by Time ___________________________________________________ 13

Figure 11 : No. of Vehicles involved in Fatal Accidents by Vehicle Type (2002) _____________ 18

Figure 12: No. of Vehicles involved in Fatal Accidents (For Faulty Drivers) (2002) ___________ 19

Figure 13 : Faulty Rate for Fatal Accidents by Vehicle Type____________________________ 20

Figure 14 : Fatality Rate by Faulty Drivers by Vehicle Type (2001) _______________________ 21

Figure 15: Fatal Accidents Involving a Single Vehicle by Vehicle Type (Object of Collision: Pedestrian) – 2002 ________________________________________________________ 24

Figure 16: Fatal Accidents Involving a Single Vehicle by Vehicle Type (Object of Collision: Fixed Objects) - 2002 ___________________________________________________________ 25

Figure 17 : No. of Two Vehicle Fatal Accidents (for Faulty Drivers) by object of collision - 2002 26

Figure 18 : Breakdown of Hit and Run Accidents involving a single vehicle ________________ 27

Figure 19 : Breakdown of Hit and Run Accidents Involving Two Vehicles __________________ 28

Figure 20 : Faulty Rate of Casualties ______________________________________________ 29

Figure 21 : Experience of Drivers Involved in road accidents (All Accidents) - 2002 __________ 32

Figure 22: Experience of Drivers Involved in Fatal Road Accidents_______________________ 33

Figure 23 : Experience of Faulty Drivers Involved in Fatal Road Accidents_________________ 33

Figure 24 : Percentage of Fatal Casualties by Casualty Type (2002) _____________________ 34

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002 Executive Summary

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Executive Summary

Even though road accidents have become a noticeable social problem in Sri Lanka, there is little analytical information to embark on a strategic plan to combat this problem which threatens to become the highest taker of deaths in the 14 to 59 year age group. Even at present approximately 1, in 50 deaths is due to a road accident. This was only 1 in 115 a generation ago. Trends indicate that the next generation is likely to be twice as more at risk than now, unless a determined effort is taken to improve road safety.

Statistically there are over a thousand road accidents recorded per week with five to six people being killed every day. This means around 2,000 people are killed yearly, while over 3,000 people are critically injured and another 12,000 suffer minor injuries. This means 1, in 250 families, suffers personal injury or death due to a road accident every year! The economic cost of these accidents has been valued at over Rs 10,000 million annually which is around 1% of the GDP of Sri Lanka. In other words the net output of 1 person among 100 workers is laid to waste due to road accidents. This is an unnecessary burden that society has to bear.

This Book has focused on analyzing the causes of fatal and grievous accidents that are by far the most traumatic. The main findings are:

The broad reasons why accidents have kept on Increasing: Accidents have steadily increased with time on Sri Lankan roads. While there are a host of contributory factors, a rapidly increasing vehicle fleet is the primary reason.

The safety per vehicle km operated on Sri Lankan roads has marginally improved over time, but the risk of accidents faced by Sri Lankans has doubled over the last two decades. The primary reasons for this are (a) the rapid increase in the amount of travel undertaken by the population, (b) shift from relatively safer forms of transport such as public transport, to extremely unsafe modes such as the motor cycle, in recent times, (c) the combined effect of ineffective enforcement and blatant violation of road rules and (d) poor road designs, lack of safety interventions and poor maintenance programs.

This calls for a three pronged strategy to (a) encourage people to travel by safer modes of transport through transport policy, investment and pricing methods, (b) improve education and enforcement techniques for making drivers and other road users behave within a mostly self imposed safety regime, and (c) take urgent and direct steps to improve the road designs and controls especially at locations of a road or in areas where accident rates are high and road design is deficient or compromises safety.

Targeted geographic road safety campaigns for parts of the country where Road Safety is Poorest: Even though the Western Province has the largest share of accidents, the North Western Province can be called the most unsafe for the road user and the residents, when adjusted for transport activity levels and resident population. When analyzed, this appears to be largely due to the intense use of motor cycles and lorries when compared to other provinces. This province in particular appears to deserve a targeted road safety campaign for motor cycle riders and lorry drivers.


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Targeted road safety campaigns for the most unsafe roads in Sri Lanka: The Police Divisions of Kelaniya, Gampaha, Colombo, Nugegoda, Kegalle and Chilaw have the highest number of serious accidents. These are also areas where the main trunk roads to Colombo are located. Thus a special enforcement campaign as well as a road safety audit and improvements of the following four trunk roads is seen as deserving the highest priority as these 400 kms of roads are host to over 1,200 (or nearly 60%) of all the fatal accidents. A special police enforcement program together with steps of improving road markings, particularly centre median markings and separations and intersection improvements would have a marked effect on reducing the number of serious accidents. These roads are:

• Colombo – Kandy Road –A1 (up to and including Kegalle Police Division)

• Colombo – Galle Road – A2 (up to and including Kalutara Police Division)

• Colombo – Puttalam Road – A3 ( up to including Chilaw Police Division) and

• Colombo – Ratnapura Road – A4 ( up to and including Ratnapura Police Division)

Since this length of roads is relatively small compared to the 100,000 kms of road network spread throughout the country, a focused program on these 400 kms could easily reduce fatalities by as much as 200 to 400 per year. On the basis of an effective strategy, these roads qualify for urgent attention.

Special enforcement and awareness programs during periods of special events & national festivities: This Book provides evidence that accidents increase sharply during times of special events such as holiday seasons and national festivities. Special traffic enforcement programs for these events in proximity to such locations where such events take place would also be a strategic approach.

Special Programs for Weekend Traffic: Trunk Roads generally have a higher accident rate from Friday to Monday when weekend related traffic is observed. This is particularly on trunk roads leading out of Colombo. As such, more intensive enforcement strategies should best be deployed during such times on such roads.

Specific Programs to target the most dangerous vehicles on our roads: Much against common belief, Light Vehicles and Cars are among the vehicles that are recorded as being the most involved in road accidents. However, the private buses are by far the most dangerous and most lethal vehicles on our roads in terms of severity of accidents. In 2002, private buses were involved in 413 fatal accidents in which the drivers of those buses were held responsible in 349 instances. These accidents resulted in over 14% of all deaths. Most vulnerable are the pedestrians and cyclists. Thus the bus is the most dangerous vehicle for non-motorized road users. Targeted enforcement programs and educational programs are urgently needed to arrest this situation.

On the other hand, the motor cycle is found to be the most dangerous vehicle to use. There have been 339 fatal accidents (another 13%) involving the riders themselves. Thus emphasis on the use of safety equipment such as the use of the safety helmet and other general safety measures should be directed at this group of road users who are most vulnerable to serious accidents.


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Reducing Pedestrian Accidents: Among the victims of road accidents, the pedestrian appears to be the most vulnerable with 815 deaths in 2002. In 95% of these cases the fault was with the vehicle driver/rider. In the case of cyclists too, of the 364 fatal accidents the cyclist was at fault in only 22% of the instances. In general it is seen that the bigger vehicle (or road user) is generally responsible for an accident with a smaller road user. Thus special care must be taken in all driver/rider training and testing programs as well as general awareness campaigns to highlight the need for more defensive driving/riding habits that ensure a higher respect for the rights of road users who are less conspicuous or are relatively smaller in physical size.

Of the offending vehicles, for pedestrian casualties, the motor cycle is the most dangerous vehicle. This is possibly due to riders trying to weave in and around pedestrians, without reducing speed. Light Vehicles too appear to cause many pedestrian deaths, possibly due to the high speeds at which many of them are driven and possibly the nature of impact on the frontal face of a van as opposed to a car or three wheeler, which may be less ‘sympathetic’ to the pedestrian in an impact. As such, campaigns that focus attention on driving habits of motor cyclists and van drivers which appear to jeopardize the pedestrian appears to be an important strategic intervention.

Reducing Speed Related Collisions: Nearly 60% of serious accidents are caused by single vehicle accidents in which there is a collision with a pedestrian or a fixed object. These are usually due to vehicles travelling at excessive speeds for that point on the road and resulting in collisions with slow moving pedestrians or with road side objects after going out of control. Most of our roads have not been engineered for high speeds. Some roads are unsafe even at the posted legal speed limit. Thus controlling speeds through physical measures such as speed reducing devices particularly in areas where there is heavy pedestrian activity is highly recommended to address this problem of speed related accidents. Speeding should be checked in less built up areas too. This would of course require more enforcement effort and it is very necessary to improve on the strategies that are adopted, as the traditional methods seem to have little effect.

Reducing Head on Crashes: Of the two-vehicle accidents, most accidents appear to occur when they are travelling in opposite directions. This is possibly evident of poor road markings, especially centre median markings and separators. Thus road improvements in such locations, especially within the 400 kms identified earlier is extremely urgent.

The growing problem of Hit & Run Accidents: An alarming concern is that 1 in 11 serious accidents are classified as ‘hit and run’. The victims in most instances are hapless pedestrians and cyclists. In the case of pedestrian accidents that have resulted in deaths, nearly 1 in 6 accidents have been reported as ‘hit and run’. The vehicles identified as running away are mostly motor cycles and light vehicles. Perhaps fines or penalties for such action should be urgently increased to arrest this trend.

Drivers without Licence: A further reason for accidents appears to be drivers/riders not in possession of a valid driving licence. While 10% of driver/riders meeting with accidents are reported to be without a valid driving/riding licence, this percentage increases to nearly 25% in the case of serious accidents. It is perhaps tragic that 1/4th of all deaths and serious injuries are caused by drivers/riders without a valid license. Thus intense inspection programs, especially for vehicles such as motor cycles, vans and lorries that appear to have a high percentage of such unlicensed drivers should be intensified. Moreover, another ¼th of accidents are attributed to drivers having less than 3 years experience. In fact only 16% of serious accidents are due to


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drivers who have licences that are older than 12 years. Thus the training and testing of younger drivers should be intensified. While younger drivers are more likely to be involved in crashes in any part of the world, the differences in the ratio clearly emphasize the need for improved driver/rider training and testing procedures.

Improving Pedestrian Facilities: Of the 815 pedestrian deaths in 2002, 424 (52%) occurred while attempting to cross a road. Of such instances, 409 (97%) cases arose from the pedestrian crossing the road away from a marked crossing. While jay walking may be attributed to some accidents, the absence of marked crossings where necessary is another possible cause. In addition, walking on the shoulder or edge of road has resulted in a further 336 deaths. The absence of safe walking areas is thus seen as a major obstacle to road safety. Clearing of unauthorized structures that occupy walking areas, parked vehicles, debris, garbage and shrubs should be made mandatory for all the road authorities. A special program should be launched on the 400 kms of accident prone roads identified earlier.

This Book has identified several important first steps that should be taken to improve road safety in Sri Lanka. The authors are hopeful that this would be a useful document to design, fund and implement road safety projects that would eventually arrest and bring down the heavy accident toll on our roads. Of course the sooner such initiatives are taken, more lives and property would be saved.

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002 Chapter 1: Introduction

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CHAPTER 1 : INTRODUCTION

Road accidents have become a noticeable social problem in Sri Lanka, even though, they may at first have seemed relatively unimportant, especially in developing countries when compared to critical problems such as malnutrition, scarcity of financial and economic resources, terrorist problems, unemployment etc. Although it is true that the loss and suffering resulting from road accidents may be small when compared with that caused by poverty and sickness, the problem is much more serious than we imagine.

According to Police records, there are over a 1,000 road accidents per week with five to six people being killed every day. While every life is precious especially to the family and friends, people who get killed or injured deprive the economy and society of their skills and gifts which may have taken years for the society to build. Hence, the loss of such people has a greater impact on the economy than at first appearance. Apart from around 2,000 people who are killed yearly, over 3,000 people are critically injured and another 12,000 suffer minor injuries.

The economic cost of accidents has been valued at over Rs 10,000 million annually. Apart from the value of loss of human contributions to society, it includes costs of resources for medical care, police costs, vehicle repair damages etc. This value if at all has to be greater since many minor accidents are not reported to the Police at all.

In the past, the problem of road safety was a concern of a few professionals only. The public in Sri Lanka have been relatively indifferent to this growing social issue, mainly due to other albeit, larger issues of security, crime and terrorism. As a result, there have been insufficient effort and attention given to improve road safety in Sri Lanka, even though road accidents have continued to impose a heavy burden on medical & hospital resources, insurance costs etc. However, recently, with the media publishing more reports on road accidents, public awareness has focused on this issue. It is therefore timely for the authorities also to build on public concern to develop and implement a strategic plan to reduce road accidents in Sri Lanka an urgent and priority basis.

This Book focuses mainly on fatal and grievous accidents that are by far the most traumatic. It is hoped that this Book would enable the implementation of specific measures that could bring down the numbers in future years, through targeted mitigatory measures.

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002 Chapter 2: Have Accidents Increased?

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CHAPTER 2 : HAVE ACCIDENTS INCREASED?

There is no doubt that accidents have kept on increasing yearly. Table 1 depicts this sad story with a summary of several thousand lives lost over the last twenty five years and how the number of all types of accidents has grown almost three fold during this period.

However, Sri Lanka is not alone in facing this grim reality of increasing road accidents. Most developing countries facing rapid increase in motorization and in some cases rapidly growing population as well, have also reported similar situations. A few countries mostly from among the developed countries such as Japan and Sweden, are role models having actually reduced the number of road accidents steadily. But in these countries motorization has pretty much reached saturation.

Table 1: Number of Accidents (1977-2002)

Year Fatal Grievous Non-Grievous Damage Only Total

1977 811 834 6,158 7,494 15,297 1978 817 1,030 6,833 9,607 18,287 1979 854 1,102 7,123 10,816 19,895 1980 1,038 1,410 8,873 12,390 23,711 1981 1,173 1,347 8,947 13,189 24,656 1982 1,180 1,318 8,155 13,349 24,002 1983 1,308 1,301 7,900 13,653 24,162 1984 1,258 1,304 7,503 14,469 24,534 1985 1,223 1,233 7,318 14,410 24,184 1986 1,253 1,471 8,610 20,597 31,931 1987 1,165 1,525 8,568 22,036 33,294 1988 1,365 1,348 7,935 22,380 33,028 1989 1,454 1,287 7,733 21,222 31,696 1990 1,714 1,703 9,462 21,584 34,463 1991 1,255 1,899 9,685 21,305 34,144 1992 1,302 2,112 10,386 23,977 37,777 1993 1,346 2,299 11,687 26,163 41,495 1994 1,414 2,554 11,992 27,855 43,815 1995 1,481 2,588 12,233 31,837 48,139 1996 1,560 2,615 11,510 32,990 48,675 1997 1,705 3,310 10,037 33,481 48,533 1998 1,874 2,393 11,417 35,275 50,959 1999 1,938 2,632 11,612 37,333 53,515 2000 1,983 2,992 11,756 37,508 54,239 2001 1,993 3,390 11,546 35,165 52,094 2002 2,038 3,286 12,725 36,862 54,911

As Table 1 indicates, road accidents as well as the number of casualties arising from these crashes, including fatalities have continued to grow in absolute numbers in Sri Lanka. This section analyses the possible reasons for this phenomenon.

To understand the possible underlying causes for the increasing trends in road accidents, it is important to study these trends with the relative trends in the growth of population, degree of motorization, changes in the vehicle mix and degree of urbanization.


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Trends in Growth Rates (1980=100)

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O perational VehiclesO perated Vehicle kilometersRoad AccidentPassenger kmAccident FatalityPopulation

Moreover, the number of reported accidents is also a product of the reporting rate of accidents. Previous studies have concluded that ‘damage only’ accident statistics are unreliable because the reporting rate is low and subject to extraneous factors such as insurance requirements, availability of police personnel for recording purposes etc. Whereas, it has been found that in the case of grievous and fatal accidents almost all accidents are reported and thus analysis of the number of these accidents is more reliable.

In order to understand the relative growth of accidents during the period of study, compared to growth in population and vehicle population, Figure 1 has been developed to understand the growth of the different types of accidents set to a base of 100 for the year 1980. As such, the relative growth rates for each of these trends compared to the others can be easily observed. Figure 1 shows that all types of accidents reported have increased at a rate greater than the increase in population, but lower than

the growth in the fleet of vehicles or the estimated vehicle kms operated for that

year. Furthermore, the growth rate for fatal accidents is

significantly lower than all other types of

accidents reported.

Figure 1: Trends in Growth Rates (1980 = 100)

This reveals that even though the number of reported accidents has steadily increased, the accident situation in Sri Lanka has improved relative to extraneous factors. As such, the increase in motorization and people switching from relatively safer modes of transport to more risky modes of transport appears to be the most likely causes of the increasing trends in accidents. This hypothesis and others as the overall causes of increasing trends will be explored further in the following sections.

2.1 Are the Roads less Safe Today?

When road accidents increase at a rate faster than that of the growth of population as observed in Figure 1, it translates to a higher risk faced by the population. Risk in terms of fatal road accidents is usually measured in terms of deaths arising from road accidents per year per 100,000 persons. As shown in Figure 2, this risk during the period 1977 to 2002 has more than doubled. This means that the average Sri Lankan is twice as much more vulnerable to meeting his/her death on the road than a Sri Lankan who was around 20 to 25 years, approximately a generation ago.


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These statistics are further confirmed when we compare the road fatalities as a ratio of all deaths, inclusive of natural deaths (Table 2), which also confirms that the risk factor has doubled for Sri Lankans, as presently 1 in 51 deaths is due to road accidents when compared to 1977 when it was only 1 in 116.

Table 2 : Road Safety Fatality as a Ratio of all Deaths

Year Road

Accident Fatalities

All Deaths Ratio

1977 892 103,284 116 1978 864 93,971 109 1979 939 94,244 100 1980 1,106 91,020 82 1981 1,238 88,481 71 1982 1,249 92,244 74 1983 1,362 95,174 70 1984 1,302 100,725 77 1985 1,305 98,089 75 1986 1,479 96,145 65 1987 1,232 99,756 81 1988 1,381 95,934 69 1989 1,592 105,239 66 1990 1,788 97,716 55 1991 1,532 95,574 62 1992 1,515 98,380 65 1993 1,402 96,179 69 1994 1,608 100,394 62 1995 1,669 104,707 63 1996 1,724 122,161 71 1997 1,823 114,782 63 1998 1,945 111,405 57 1999 2,056 114,472 56 2000 2,144 112,569 53 2001 2,158 111,100 51 2002 2,175 110,637 51

Figure 2also highlights several periods wherein the accident rate has spiked upwards. The period 1978 to 1981 is one such instance where the country’s roads experienced a sudden increase in traffic. The sudden influx of new drivers and higher volumes of traffic are the most likely causes for this increase in accidents. The second upward trend is observed during the period 1987 to 1990 a period wherein public transportation deteriorated badly and there was a rapid increase of motor cycles. The third period of rapid increase of accidents is from 1993 to 1997 wherein the most notable change, was the rapid growth of buses and three wheelers. Once again the influx of new drivers could have led to this increase.


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Fatal Accidents per Year per One Hundred Thousand People

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Figure 2 : Fatal Accidents per year per One Hundred Thousand People

However, these reasons cannot be treated as the only causes. The obvious disregard for road rules and the growing ineffectiveness of enforcement strategies must also be considered as being contributory to this situation. These aspects will be explored further in the following sections.

2.2 For whom are the Roads Most Unsafe Today?

A similar trend analysis of the fatality rates in terms of pedestrian deaths per 100,000 population is shown in Figure 3. This clearly indicates that pedestrian accident rates have remained more or less constant over the last 25 years. This does not speak well for road authorities and their lack of attention on road safety improvements for pedestrians, but neither does it indicate a worsening situation for pedestrians.

However, in contrast to pedestrians, the fatality rate for vehicle users as measured by fatalities per billion passenger kms travelled has increased sharply to nearly double over this same period. This point to the changes in the types of vehicles that are being used for motorized travel. The shift from public transport to motor cycles is a prime reason, that could be attributed to this trend, as it also corresponds to the spike in the 1987-1990 period. In more recent years (from 1993 onwards too, there has been a steady increase. This could very well be due to increasing vehicle-vehicle crashes due to reckless and high speed travel. This hypothesis will be examined in greater detail in later sections of this Book.


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Fatality Rate per one hundred thousand Population (1977-2002)

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Figure 3 : Fatality Rate per 100,000 Population

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002 Chapter 3: Where do Road Accidents Occur?

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CHAPTER 3 : WHERE DO ROAD ACCIDENTS OCCUR?

According to the Police Statistics, there were 54,911 road accidents in Sri Lanka in the year 2002. Of these, 2,038 accidents were fatal, while 3,286, 12,725 and 36, 862 were reported as ‘Grievous’, ‘Non-grievous’ and ‘Damage only’ accidents respectively. The percentage distribution of accidents by these types of ‘Class of Accident’ is shown in Figure 4.

Damaged Only67%

Fatal4%

Grievous6% Non-

Grievous23%

Figure 4 : Distribution of Accidents by Class (Sri Lanka, 2002)

3.1 Are some areas more accident prone?

Finding out where accidents happen is an important first step in understanding the possible patterns for accidents and the identification of some underlying causes. The distribution of road accidents by ‘Class’ for each province, is shown in Table 3. It is seen that the highest number, of reported accidents, is from the Western Province. This is to be expected since the Western Province has the highest population as well as the largest vehicle fleet. As shown in Figure 5, it has accounted for 60% of all of the country’s accidents. The North Western & Central Provinces have the second highest number of accidents in Sri Lanka.

However it is the ‘damage only’ accidents that are extremely high in the Western Province. This is 68%, which is much higher than the 39% for Grievous and Fatal accidents respectively. The high percentage of damage only accidents perhaps reflects the heavy congestion in the Colombo area. However, even with the slower travel speeds, 39% of all fatal accidents amounting to 796 occurred in the Western Province, still making it the province with the highest number of fatal accidents.

The North Western Province comes in second place with 21% (424) of fatal accidents. The Southern Province lies in second place with respect to fatal accidents with 12% (239) of the country’s fatal accidents. The North Central Province has the lowest number of fatal accidents when compared to the other provinces in Sri Lanka.


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Table 3: No. and Percentage of Accidents by Class and Province (2002)

Class of Accident Fatal Grievous Non-Grievous Damaged Only Total

796 1,288 5,488 25,106 32,678 Western Province 39% 39% 43% 68% 60% 102 189 674 748 1,713 Eastern Province 5% 6% 5% 2% 3% 58 119 387 414 978 Northern Province

3% 4% 3% 1% 2% 239 351 1,370 1,562 3,522 Southern Province

12% 11% 11% 4% 6% 149 258 1,361 2,965 4,733 Central Province 7% 8% 11% 8% 9% 45 66 231 631 973 North Central Province

2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 424 578 1,595 2,502 5,099 North Western

Province 21% 18% 13% 7% 9% 172 322 1,116 2,131 3,741 Sabaragamuwa

Province 8% 10% 9% 6% 7% 53 115 503 803 1,474 Uva Province

3% 3% 4% 2% 3% Total (100%) 2,038 3,286 12,725 36,862 54,911

Road Accidents in Sri Lanka 2002

North Central Province

2%

Western Province59% North Western

Province9%

Central Province9%

Sabaragamuwa Province

7%

Southern Province6%

Eastern Province3%Northern Province

2%Uva Province

3%

Figure 5 : Percentage of Road Accidents by Province (2002)


9

Fatal Accidents in Sri Lanka 2002

Northern Province3%

Eastern Province5%

Central Province7%

Uva Province3%

Sabaragamuwa Province

8%

North Central Province

2%Western Province39%

Southern Province12%North Western

Province21%

Figure 6: Percentage of Fatal Road Accidents by Province (2002)

3.2 Which provinces have the poorest road safety record?

The road safety of any geographic area, whether it be a country, a province or even a particular road can only be evaluated once the accident intensity is compared with the vehicle and population activities taking place within that area. This is usually represented by the risk to the user and the risk to the population at large. These aspects can be computed using the following two statistics.

• User Risk: Fatality Rate per Passenger Km Travelled (deaths per billion passenger kms) • Population Risk: Fatality Rate per Population (deaths per 100,000 population)

Using this measure, the provincial analysis has been carried out and it was found, that the most vulnerable province, with respect to road safety is the North Western Province, followed by the Southern Province, with Sabaragamuwa and Western Provinces jointly in third place. The method of computing a ranking is shown, in summary form, in Table 4.

The Table 4 and Figure 7, show a composite accident ranking taking the User Risk as the average of the fatality rates per one million vehicle kms and the Population Risk as the fatality rate per hundred thousand population for year 2001. Although the Western Province has the highest number of road accident fatalities, when fatality rates are considered; it is found that the North Western Province has the highest fatality rates. Accordingly, the North Western Province is ranked first while the Southern Provinces is ranked second and Sabaragamuwa & Western Provinces are jointly ranked in third place.

The reason why some provinces have significantly higher risk rates can be understood by further analysis. This follows the general observation that, safety records are found to vary within the same country, due to a number of reasons such as type of vehicles used, access to emergency medical facilities, level of traffic safety enforcement, quality of roads and driving habits.


10

The Severity Index is one such parameter that may give some insight to which provinces have a higher proportion of fatalities when compared to all road accident casualties.

Table 4 : Fatality Rate by Province1 (2001)2

Fatality Rate

Province per 10^6

Vehicle Kms Rank Per 10^5 Population Rank Composite

Rank Central 0.22 6 7.41 5 4 North Central 0.15 7 3.80 7 5 North Western 0.38 1 19.14 1 1 Sabaragamuwa 0.27 4 11.97 3 3 Southern 0.32 2 10.23 4 2 Uva 0.30 3 5.89 6 5 Western 0.22 5 17.01 2 3 27.73 12.32

As shown in Figure 8, the North Western Province shows the highest severity index of 12.86%. This means that 12.86 per cent of the entire number injured in road accidents eventually died. Even though Western Province has the highest number of fatalities in the country, when the severity index is calculated it is 9.06% and ranked 4th among all the provinces. Hence it should be noted that even though the Western province has a higher number of fatalities, the degree of fatalities to injuries is higher in three other provinces.

Probably, here are two different reasons why this has occurred. In the case of the Eastern Province, it could well be the inaccessibility to adequate medical facilities that indicates a higher fatality rate. In the case of the North Western province and the Southern Province it is most likely, that it is due to the very high percentage of motor bicycles in those provinces. In 2001, the NWP had an operating fleet of 94,291 motor cycles, from a total fleet of 141,437 vehicles. This amounts to 67% of the fleet. In the case of the Southern Province too, it amounts to 65%, which is much higher than the average of 41% for the other provinces. As shown in Kumarage & Wijesooriya (1992), the motor cycle has a fatality rate several times higher than other vehicles and consequently, a higher proportion of motor cycles in the vehicle fleet tend to increase the risk of road accidents, as has happened to the population of the NWP.

Figure 7 : Ranking of Provinces for Fatality Rate

1 Statistical Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka for 2001, M.D.R.P. Jayaratne, February 2003 2 Exclude North & East Province


11

12.86%

9.51%

9.19%

9.06%

8.94%

8.18%

7.26%

6.05%

4.46%

0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12% 14%

Uva

CP

NP

SAB

NCP

WP

EP

SP

NWP

Severity Index (%)

Figure 8: Severity Index by Province (2002)

3.3 What Police Divisions have the poorest Road Safety Record?

The accidents data analyzed by police division shows that the Colombo Division has the highest number of accidents amounting to 10,319 in 2002. However, out of this 8,904 accidents were damage only accidents, 109 were fatal accidents, while 1,306 were other injury accidents. The Nugegoda Division has the second highest number of accidents accounting for 7,565 accidents. The Kelaniya Division is ranked in third place, having 5,472 accidents.

Figure 9 : No. of Fatal Accidents by Police Divisions (2001 & 2002)

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180

Kelaniya

Gampaha

Colombo

Nugegoda

Kegalle

Chilaw

Kurunegala

Negombo

Anuradhapura

Ratnapura

Kandy

Mt. Lavinia

Kalutara

Galle

Panadura 20012002


12

However, when considering fatal accidents, this ranking changes. Figure 9 shows the Police Divisions which have reported the highest number of fatal accidents in 2001 and 2002. As shown in Figure 9 Kelaniya Division ranks first, while Gampaha Division ranks second in the year 2001 while dropping to third place in 2002. The Colombo police division is ranked 3rd in 2001 while in the year 2002 it is in 6th place. The highest numbers of fatal accidents have occurred within the Kelaniya Police Division while the Gampaha Police Division has the second highest number of fatal accidents in 2001. Although Colombo Police Division has the highest number of accidents in Sri Lanka, when considering fatal accidents it is ranked in 3rd place having 109 fatal accidents.

It can be observed that six police divisions namely Kelaniya, Gampaha, Colombo, Nugegoda, Kegalle and Chilaw have had more than 100 fatal accidents in both 2001 and 2002. Thus it is evident that the most number of fatal accidents occur within the Police Divisions having the major trunk roads connecting Colombo. The intensity also appears to increase with proximity to the Colombo city.

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002 Chapter 4: When do Accidents Occur?

13

CHAPTER 4 : WHEN DO ACCIDENTS OCCUR?

As shown in Figure 10, it is found that most accidents that are reported have occurred between the hours of 8.00 am and 11 am and also 14 hours and 17 hours. In the case of fatal accidents it is found that the most vulnerable periods are between 2.00 pm to 8.00 pm. The time distribution of accidents does not change significantly with the Police Division, either. There is however a pattern to fatal accidents where the Police Divisions around Colombo, such as Kelaniya, Negombo, Nugegoda, Kalutara and Panadura, indicate that the twilight hours between 19 hours and 21 hours in the evening record the highest number of fatal accidents. The only exception to this pattern is the Mt Lavinia Police Division.

There are a few observable variations between roads, particularly with respect to the time, during which fatal accidents occur. For example, the Negombo Road (A3) has the most number of fatal

accidents between 19 and 21 hours, while on the Kandy Road (A1) it is between 16 and 19 hours. On B class roads this is during the morning hours, while on minor roads it is between 13 and 16 hours. No clear reason for this can be assigned at present.

More investigations may be required to

determine the causes for this.

Figure 10 : Accidents by Time

Fatal Accidents by Time (2002)

242322

21

20

19

18

1716 15

1 2 3 4 5 67

1413

12

11

10

9

8

> 11090 - 110< 90

All Road Accidnets with Time of Day (2002)

1 2 3 4 5 67

8

9

10

11

121314

15

16

17

18

19

2021 22 23 24

> 3,3002500 - 3300< 2500

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002 Chapter 4: When do Accidents Occur?

14

4.1 Is there a variation between the Days of the Week?

The statistics do not show a significant variation in accidents between the different days of the week on an island-wide basis. However there is a noticeable variation within Police Divisions where the main trunk roads are situated such as Kalutara, Chilaw, Ratnapura, Kegalle, Kurunegala and Gampaha which have significantly more accidents, including fatal accidents on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays. This is presumably due to the heavy weekend traffic on the trunk roads. Correspondingly, on these same days, areas such as Colombo, Kandy, Mt Lavinia, Nugegoda, Negombo have a reduction especially on Sundays and in some cases a significant reduction on Saturdays as well. This is attributed to reduction in traffic, in these areas during the weekends.

4.2 Is there a variation between the Months of the Year?

With respect to variation of accidents by the month of the year, there is no significant variation on an islandwide basis. However, as in the earlier instance, during some months of the year, accidents are significantly higher in certain Police Divisions. For example, in Nuwara Eliya Division, the accidents increase by nearly 60% in the month of April, when large numbers of holiday makers arrive. Similarly, other places of seasonal traffic such as Anuradhapura, Tangalle (Kataragama pilgrims) also show increases associated with festivals.

In terms of most accident prone months, the Kandy Road (A1) appears to have recorded significantly more fatal accidents in December as against any other month of the year, while in the case of the Galle Road (A2) it is March. Other roads however do not demonstrate significant variations.

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002 Chapter 5: On what Roads do Accidents Occur?

15

CHAPTER 5 : ON WHAT ROADS DO ACCIDENTS OCCUR?

Another important and often ignored aspect of road accidents is the contribution of the road itself. Poor design and badly maintained roads are known to lead to poor safety records. When the accident data for the Western Province for the year 2001 are analysed by the different ‘Class of Road’ it is found that the most number of accidents have occurred on the A class roads, followed by B Class Roads.

These are the National Roads on which there is fast moving long distance traffic sharing the road with heavy commuter traffic flows. Moreover these roads have a number of popular shopping areas as well. Since different types of traffic need different requirements there are often conflicts between these. As shown in Table 5, out of the 824 fatal accidents, 313 have not been coded for the type of road on which the accident occurred. Of the others, 95% have been on National Roads, with 66% been on A Class roads.

Of these, the four main trunk roads, the Kandy Road (A1), Galle Road (A2), Negombo Road (A3) and the Ratnapura Road (A4) contribute over 45% of fatal accidents. While it is true that these four roads carry the highest flows of traffic it is noteworthy to point out that the combined length of these roads within the Western Province wherein most of these fatalities occur is just over 200 kms. But these 200 kms account for, between 250 and 350 accidents per year. The worst of these appears to be the A3 (Negombo Road) which accounts for half of them, even though the length is a mere 40 kms.

Table 5 : Distribution of Fatal Accidents in the Western Province by Time & Road Type (2001)

Time Range (Hrs.) Road Class 1-4 4-7 7-10 10-13 13-16 16-19 19-21 21-24 Total

A1 6 10 7 10 11 20 13 13 90 A2 4 14 6 11 15 16 16 15 97 A3 4 12 19 16 17 15 30 13 126 A4 2 4 4 2 7 7 7 1 34

Other A Roads 2 8 5 5 9 14 7 50

B 1 7 19 15 12 16 9 12 91 C 1 1 1 5 3 2 2 15 M 1 1 2 2 1 1 8

Uncoded roads 13 23 45 42 28 74 59 29 313

30 73 110 103 102 162 151 93 824

Therefore special emphasis has to be placed on the safety on these roads in particular. Road design for example, should be re-examined. Perhaps a Road Safety Audit should be carried out. Other measures such as greater enforcement and vehicle inspections may also be required for these roads.

5.1 Are some vehicles more vulnerable during certain times of the day

There have been 92,610 vehicles involved in road accidents during the year 2002. The involvement of accidents by the time of accident is also analyzed. This analysis shows that bicycles for example, meet with more accidents during the period 15 hours to 20 hours than at other times of the day. In the case of motor cycles this period is from 16 hours to 17 hours. For buses 7 hours to 9 hours in the morning is the most

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002 Chapter 5: On what Roads do Accidents Occur?

16

dangerous. In the case of Lorries it is in the evening between 16 hours and 17 hours. For the vehicles belonging to the Armed Forces it is from11 hours to 14 hours. The reasons for these variations could be many. For example, buses are most active and perhaps even most competitive in the morning. Similarly, fatigue related reasons could be responsible for bicycle accidents in the evening. More research may be required to determine more definite conclusions.

It may be noted that the ranking of the times for fatal accidents is different to other accidents. In this case, the bicycles as well as the motor cycle appear to be most involved in fatal accidents between 15 hours to 20 hours. For larger vehicles this period is earlier on, in the evening, most likely, from 15 hours to 18 hours.

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002 Chapter 6: What are the vehicles involved?

17

CHAPTER 6 : WHAT ARE THE VEHICLES THAT ARE MOST INVOLVED IN ACCIDENTS?

6.1 Involvement by Vehicle Type

According to the accident statistics; a total of 92,610 vehicles were involved in the 54,911 road accidents reported in 2002. Of this 2,967 vehicles were involved in fatal accidents. The number of vehicles involved in ‘Grievous’ and Non-grievous” accidents was 5,145 & 19,246 respectively. The balance of 65,252 vehicles has been involved in ‘Damage only’ accidents. This breakdown is further illustrated in Table 6.

Much against popular belief, it is the light vehicle (mostly vans) that is most frequently involved in road accidents. The car follows in second place, with the bus (considered by many as the most dangerous) is in Third

place with the lorry in fourth place. However, in terms of injury accidents and fatal accidents these ranking change significantly. Here it is the motor cycle that ranks in first place, followed by the bus, lorry and light vehicles in almost equal position.

Table 6 : No. of Vehicles involved in Accidents (2002)

Fatal Injury Damage Only Total Vehicle Type # Rank # Rank # Rank # Rank

Motor Cycle 600 1 6,104 1 2,815 6 9,519 5 Bus 498 2 3,103 3 9,475 4 13,076 3 Light Vehicle 485 3 4,003 2 18,968 1 23,456 1 Lorry 454 4 2,723 6 10,087 3 13,264 4 Bicycle 364 5 2,798 5 353 8 3,515 7 3 Wheeler 189 6 2,970 4 4,201 5 7,360 6 Car 176 7 2,002 7 17,349 2 19,527 2 Other Vehicles 116 8 342 9 1,654 7 2,112 8 Land Vehicle 85 9 346 8 350 9 781 9 2,967 24,391 65,252 92,610

6.2 Involvement in Fatal Accidents

As shown in Figure 11, motor cycles are the most frequently involved vehicle in fatal accidents accounting for 20.2% of the all vehicles involved in fatal accidents. The second highest vehicle type involved in fatal road accidents is the light vehicle accounting for 16.3% of all vehicles. The lorry has accounted for 15.3% of vehicles involved in fatal accidents. Although it is believed that the private buses are the most frequently


18

involved vehicle type, the contribution of it in fatal accidents was 14% and it is in the fourth place. As shown in Figure 11, bicycles also contributed highly to fatal accidents and it was around 12 per cent.

19

83

85

97

176

189

364

415

454

485

600

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700

Forces Vehicle

SLCTB Bus

Land Vehicle

Other Vehicles

Car

3 Wheeler

Bicycle

Private Bus

Lorry

Light Vehicle

Motor Cycle

No of Vehicles invovled in Fatal Accidents

Figure 11 : No. of Vehicles involved in Fatal Accidents by Vehicle Type (2002)

Other vehicles such as three wheelers, cars, SLCTB buses, land vehicles & other vehicles (such as vehicles of the armed forces, carts & unidentified vehicles etc.) have a much lower involvement as graphically illustrated in Figure 11.

6.3 Drivers Mostly at Fault in Accidents

It is revealed that the Police have determined that 49,985 drivers were at fault in the 54,911 road accidents reported in 2002. Out of this, 2,041 drivers were reported at fault for causing fatal accidents. As shown in Figure 12, drivers of four vehicle categories are associated with causing over 73% of the fatal accidents. These are drivers of light vehicles (mostly vans) – 403 fatal accidents, lorry drivers – 372 fatal accidents, motor cycle riders – 371 fatal accidents and private buses – 343 fatal accidents.


19

403

372

371

349

139

126

87

67

65

47

15

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450

Light Vehicle

Lorry

Motor Cycle

Private Bus

Car

3 Wheeler

Bicycle

Land Vehicle

SLCTB Bus

Other Vehicles

Forces Vehicle A

ccid

ents

Number of Drivers at Fault by Vehicle Driven

Figure 12: No. of Vehicles involved in Fatal Accidents (For Faulty Drivers) (2002)

Table 7 : Faulty Rate for Fatal Accidents by Vehicle Type

2002 2001 No of Vehicles

involved in Fatal Accidents

No of Vehicles involved in Fatal

Accidents

Vehicle Type

Total

Faulty Drivers/

Rider

Faulty Rate for Fatal

Accidents Total

Faulty Drivers/

Rider

Faulty Rate for Fatal

Accidents Bicycle 364 87 24% 357 78 22% Motor Cycle 600 371 62% 571 362 63% 3 Wheeler 189 126 67% 159 106 67% Car 176 139 79% 150 128 85% Light Vehicle 485 403 83% 472 400 85% Land Vehicle 85 67 79% 59 44 75% Forces Vehicle 19 15 79% 26 24 92% Private Bus 415 349 84% 410 338 82% SLCTB Bus 83 65 78% 91 65 71% Lorry 454 372 82% 482 391 81% Other Vehicles 97 47 48% 113 70 62% 2,967 2,041 69% 2,891 2,006 69%

Another interesting analysis is shown in Table 7 and Figure 13. This shows that of the 150 car drivers involved in fatal accidents in 2001, 128 were found to be at fault. Therefore, the faulty rate of car drivers involved in fatal accidents was 85% in year 2001. Likewise, the faulty rates for each vehicle type for year 2001 & 2002 have been calculated and shown in Table 7. Accordingly, it was found that armed forces drivers (92%), car drivers (85%), light vehicle drivers (85%), private bus drivers (82%) and lorry drivers (81%) were the most frequently found at fault in fatal accidents in year 2001.


20

However, in 2002 data, this order changes with private bus drivers (84%) having advanced to top spot followed by light vehicle drivers (83%), lorry drivers (82%), car drivers (79%), land vehicle drivers (79%), armed forces vehicle drivers (79%) & SLCTB bus drivers (78%) respectively.

Even though it was found earlier that the vehicle most involved in fatal accidents was the motor cycle, (e.g. 571 in year 2001 & 600 in year 2002), the number of riders at fault for these accidents was 362 & 371

respectively. Hence the faulty rate is much lower when compared to the other larger vehicles mentioned above. That is to say that the larger vehicles appear to be more at fault than the smaller vehicles. This is also confirmed further when considering bicycle riders. As shown in the Table 7, the number of bicycles involved in fatal accidents was very high (e.g. 357) but only 78 bicycle riders were at fault and therefore the faulty rate of bicycle riders is the lowest at 22%. Therefore, it can be concluded that most bicycle accidents have occurred due to the fault of other drivers and not due to their own fault.

Figure 13 : Faulty Rate for Fatal Accidents by Vehicle Type

6.4 The Most Unsafe Drivers on our Roads

It is more appropriate when examining the vehicle involvement in accidents to consider the distance travelled by these vehicles and the number of vehicles in each category in operation rather than the just the number of vehicles involved in accidents, for a given year. For example, even though it was

92%

85%

85%

82%

81%

75%

71%

67%

63%

62%

22%

79%

79%

83%

84%

82%

79%

78%

67%

62%

48%

24%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Forces Vehicle

Car

Light Vehicle

Private Bus

Lorry

Land Vehicle

SLCTB Bus

3 Wheeler

Motor Cycle

Other Vehicles

Bicycle 20022001


21

established earlier that there are more car drivers at fault than private bus drivers, it could be argued that there are far more cars than private buses. On the other hand, even if one assumes that there are approximately the same numbers of cars and buses, the fact that a bus on average travels far more than a car over a given year, makes it more exposed to accidents. Hence, the vehicle kms travelled by each vehicle type and the operational fleet is a better measure of exposure to accidents.

As shown in Figure 14 and Table 8, the fatality rate per million vehicle kms and per thousand vehicle

population was calculated for each vehicle type. The estimated operational fleet as well as the estimated kms operated has been obtained from the TransPlan database at the University of Moratuwa. This was analyzed for the year 2001 since vehicle operational data was available only for that year. Furthermore, since the operational data for bicycles was not available, it has not been included in this calculation.

Figure 14 : Fatality Rate by Faulty Drivers by Vehicle Type (2001)

It is shown that when fatalities are adjusted for the operational fleet and vehicle kms driven, the ranking of the most dangerous drivers change drastically. It is headed by the Private Bus Driver,

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

PrivateBus

Lorry SLCTB &Other

LightVehicle

LandVehicle

MotorCycle

Car 3 Wheeler

per 0

00' v

ehic

les

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

per m

n ve

h km

s

Fatality Rate per ‘000 VehiclesFatality Rate per mn veh kms


22

followed at quite a distance by lorry drivers and SLCTB bus drivers. Light vehicle drivers follow in a close fourth place. All other drivers are approximately in equal place.

Table 8: Fatality Rate by Faulty Drivers by Vehicle Type3 (2001)

Fatality Rate per

‘000 Vehicles Fatality Rate per

mn veh kms Composite

Rank Bicycle - - - Motor Cycle 0.68 0.13 5 3 Wheeler 1.42 0.07 5 Car 0.96 0.10 5 Light Vehicle 2.21 0.16 4 Lorry 6.02 0.27 2 Private Bus 17.96 0.59 1 SLCTB & Other 10.00 0.17 3 Land Vehicle 0.58 0.16 5

This analysis clearly positions private bus drivers as being the most lethal drivers on our roads today. It gives a strong reason to change the manner in which the industry is managed especially the extremely competitive nature of the industry and poor standards with respect to drivers, their conduct and the vehicle itself. It also identifies the need for greater enforcement and training and testing of these drivers.

3 Source: “Statistical Analysis Road Accidents in Sri Lanka2001”, M.D.R.P. Jayaratne, February 2003.

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002 Chapter 7: Types of Accidents

23

CHAPTER 7 : TYPES OF ACCIDENTS

There are a number of questions regarding the types of accidents that occur and their contributions to the final accident count. The most common, the most serious, and patterns of particular types of accidents are essential information in targeting safety improvements. Some important relationships have been determined from the accident data for 2002 which are discussed in this section.

7.1 Are Road Accidents Mostly between Vehicles or those involving a Single Vehicle?

Single vehicle accidents are typically, vehicles that knock down a pedestrian or run off the road or hit a fixed object by the side of the road. As shown in the Table 9 below, in accidents resulting in injury or death, the vast majority are classified as ‘single vehicle accidents’. In fact of the 2,308 fatal accidents, 1,180 (58%) have been single vehicle accidents. The number of “two vehicle accidents” resulting in deaths have been fewer at 794 (39%). Another 3% of fatal accidents are multi-vehicle accidents.

Table 9: Accidents by no. of vehicles involved (2002)

Class of Accident

Fatal Grievous Non-

Grievous Damaged

Only Total 1,180 1,527 6,459 9,784 18,950 Single Vehicle Accidents 58% 47% 51% 27% 35% 794 1,666 6,036 25,869 34,365 Two - Vehicle Accidents

39% 51% 47% 70% 63% 64 93 230 1,209 1,596 Multi - Vehicle Accidents

3% 3% 2% 3% 3% 2,308 3,286 12,725 36,862 54,911

Table 9 also shows that in ‘Damage only’ accidents this situation is reversed. Of the 36,862 such accidents, 73% (27,078) have been between two or more vehicles in which people have not got injured.

Hence, we can easily conclude that the serious accidents are mostly caused by a single vehicle, while the vast majority of accidents between vehicles result in “damage only” reports.

7.2 Single Vehicle Accidents by Vehicle Type and Object of Collision

In this section we will analyze accidents involving only a single vehicle. Therefore accidents are classified by the object of collision as recorded by the Police. As shown earlier, of the 18,950 single vehicle accidents in year 2002, around 34% involve knocking down a pedestrian, while the balance are mostly collisions with fixed objects such as road furniture, trees, animals etc. Table 10 throws some interesting revelations indicating that the smaller vehicles are those more frequently involved in collisions with pedestrians than the larger vehicles. For example, of the 247 accidents involving bicycles (as a single vehicle), 174 (or 70%) have been collisions with pedestrians. In the case of motor cycles too, it is 61%. Whereas in the case of larger vehicles they appear to have more collisions with other fixed objects.


24

Table 10 : Single Vehicle Accidents by Vehicle Type & Object of Collision (2002)

Pedestrian Other Objects Bicycle 174 (70%) 73 (30%) Motor Cycle 1,535 (61%) 971 (39%) 3 Wheeler 782 (45%) 974 (55%) Car 729 (25%) 2,192 (75%) Light Vehicle 1,365 (26%) 3,839 (74%) Private Bus 750 (34%) 1,477 (66%) SLCTB Bus 88 (26%) 250 (74%) Other Buses 0 (0%) 6 (100%) Lorry 716 (23%) 2,440 (77%) Land Vehicle 66 (25%) 195 (75%) Forces Vehicle 30 (26%) 85 (74%) Other Vehicles 146 (69%) 67 (31%) Total 6,381 12,569

What are the Vehicles that Cause Pedestrian Accidents

In this section the single vehicle accidents involving pedestrians are analyzed with respect to the different vehicle types and ranked accordingly. This is given in Figure 15 and shows that motor cycles are ranked in first place and are responsible for 1,535 accidents involving pedestrians while light vehicles (mostly vans) are in ranked in second place and three wheelers follow in third place.

-

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1,000

1,100

1,200

1,300

1,400

1,500

ForcesVehicle

LandVehicle

SLCTBBus

Bicycle 3Wheeler

OtherVehicles

Car MotorCycle

Lorry PrivateBus

LightVehicle

No.

of S

ingl

e Ve

hicl

e Fa

tal A

ccid

ents

Col

lidin

g w

ith P

edes

tria

ns

FatalInjured

Figure 15: Fatal Accidents Involving a Single Vehicle by Vehicle Type (Object of Collision: Pedestrian) – 2002


25

However, when fatal accidents are analyzed this sequence changes drastically. Light vehicles are found to be the most frequently involved in fatal collisions with pedestrians. Of the 795 fatal pedestrian accidents, 194 (25%) were caused by light vehicles (mostly vans). Private buses are ranked in second place being responsible for another 17% of fatal accidents. Lorries contributing 15% of fatal accidents are ranked in third place, while the motor cycles which had the highest number of pedestrian accidents was ranked in fourth place for fatal pedestrian accidents. Hence it can be seen that pedestrian accidents involving larger vehicles results in the death of the pedestrian more often, than when they are hit by a smaller vehicle such as a motor cycle, or three wheeler.

What are the Vehicles that Collide with Fixed Objects

When we analyze single vehicle collisions with fixed objects, it is found that 28% of such accidents that leads to death of a person travelling in the vehicle happen when riding a motor cycle. These accidents are those in which the riders are killed after colliding with fixed objects. This shows the great vulnerability of motor cycle users to falling or hitting other objects and succumbing to the injuries arising thereof. It also underlines the importance of wearing proper safety equipment, especially the safety helmet. The motor cycle therefore comes in the top rank for fatalities and in second place for injuries. Surprisingly, the private bus takes top place for injuries resulting from collisions with fixed objects. This is presumably due to the dangerous driving and the poor condition of buses which results in vehicles going out of control and hitting extraneous objects or going down precipices. Lorries once again comes in as a vulnerable vehicle category wherein vehicle users are injured or killed due to hitting fixed objects. The same reasons as for private buses are most likely to apply in this instance as well.

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

ForcesVehicle

Car Bicycle SLCTBBus

3 Wheeler LightVehicle

LandVehicle

PrivateBus

Lorry MotorCycleN

o. o

f Sin

gle

Vehi

cle

Fata

l Acc

iden

ts in

volv

ing

Col

lisio

n w

ith

Fixe

d O

bjec

ts

Fatal

Injured

Figure 16: Fatal Accidents Involving a Single Vehicle by Vehicle Type (Object of Collision: Fixed Objects) - 2002


26

7.3 What do we know of Vehicle-Vehicle Crashes?

It is found that that there were 34,364 accidents involving two vehicles. Out of this number, 794 accidents were fatal, of which 22% (i.e. 168 accidents) were due to the fault of lorry drivers while another 20% (i.e. 158) were due to the fault of light vehicle drivers. Private bus drivers are in third place with a contribution of 19% (i.e. 147 fatalities).

Around 33% of two vehicle accidents involve a cyclist. Private buses were the most responsible for collisions with cycles and causing injury and death to cyclists. Lorry drivers are in second place responsible for 22% of collisions with cyclists.

Figure 17 : No. of Two Vehicle Fatal Accidents (for Faulty Drivers) by object of collision - 2002

Bicycle

Motor C

ycle

3 Whe

eler

Car

Light

Vehicle

Private

Bus

SLCTB Bus

Lorry

Land

Vehicle

Forces

Vehicle

Other V

ehicle

s

3 Wheelers

Large VehiclesMotor CycleFour WheelersCyclist

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002 Chapter 8: Hit & Run Accidents

27

CHAPTER 8 : HIT & RUN ACCIDENTS: WHO GETS HIT AND WHO RUNS

According to the statistics there were a total of 5,301 hit & run accidents in the year 2002. Of this, 3.4% (i.e. 182) were fatal accidents while 27% (i.e. 1,391) were injury related accidents. This means that 9 per cent of all fatal accidents and a further 9 per cent of all injury related accidents were classified as ‘hit and run’. Thus approximately in1 out of 11 serious accidents, the responsible party does not report the accident. This is a very serious situation considering the gravity of the action.

Damaged Only35%

Fatal9% Grievous

9%

Non-Grievous47%

Figure 18 : Breakdown of Hit and Run Accidents involving a single vehicle

When analyzing the hit & run accidents, we found that 1,411 were due to a single vehicle accident involving only a single vehicle. In other words, it involves a collision with a pedestrian or a fixed object. As shown in Table 11, this involved 122 pedestrian fatalities. Considering there were 795 fatalities resulting from all single vehicle collisions with pedestrians, 15% of all collisions with pedestrians that result in the death of the pedestrian have been reported as ‘hit and run’. It is a sad reflection that a high percentage of motorists appear to escape the consequences of their actions when they hit a pedestrian.

Among accidents involving two vehicles, there are 3,844 accidents reported as ‘hit and run’. This includes 273 accidents with cyclists, in which there were 20 fatal accidents. This translates to 7% of fatalities among cyclists being due to ‘hit and run’ accidents. Two-vehicle hit and run accidents mostly involve the cyclist as a victim. Therefore it is clearly evident that pedestrians and cyclists are highly vulnerable to being victims in ‘hit and run’ accidents.

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002 Chapter 8: Hit & Run Accidents

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Damaged Only83%

Fatal1%

Grievous3% Non-Grievous

13%

Figure 19 : Breakdown of Hit and Run Accidents Involving Two Vehicles

Table 11: Number of Single Vehicle Hit & Run Accidents by Object of Collision

Class of Accident Object of Collision Fatal Grievous Non-Grievous Damaged only Total Pedestrian 122 117 578 1 818 Other Objects 9 12 83 489 593 Total 131 129 661 490 1,411

As shown in Table 12, Motor Cycles and Light Vehicles (mostly Vans) are, by far, the vehicles that ‘run’ away, while the bicycle is a ‘hit’ vehicle more often, than being a ‘run’ vehicle in these hit and run accidents. This is probably due to the combined fact that these offending vehicles can speedily get away from the scene of an accident and the fact that the cyclist is often not in a position to give chase to a motor vehicle. The lower involvement of buses in hit and run accidents is possibly due to the fact that a bus usually carries passengers who are witnesses to an accident.

Table 12 : Type Vehicles in 2 Vehicle Hit & Run Fatal Accidents by Object of Collision

Object of Collision

Faulty Vehicle Cyclist Motor

Cycle 3 Wheelers

Four Wheelers

Large Vehicles

Pedestrian involved accidents

Total ‘Run’ Instances

Bicycle 2 2 Motor Cycle 4 1 2 6 13 3 Wheeler 1 2 1 4 Car 1 2 3 Light Vehicle 4 3 1 1 2 11 SLCTB Bus 1 1 Lorry 4 1 2 1 8 Other Vehicles or unknown 7 1 8

Total Instances ‘Hit” 20 4 3 3 13 7 50

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002 Chapter 9: Who are the Casualties

29

CHAPTER 9 : WHO ARE THE CASUALTIES OF ROAD ACCIDENTS?

There have been 24,303 persons injured or killed in road accidents in 2002. Of this number, there were 2,175 deaths including pedestrians and those travelling in vehicles. Table 13 shows the casualties under each type of road user, as well as the number of instances where the victim was at fault. For example, there have been 815 pedestrian fatalities of which 43 (5%) of them have been as a result of the pedestrian being at fault. This means that the motorist has been responsible for the pedestrian deaths in 95% of the cases. Similarly it can be seen that even though there have been 77 deaths of bus passengers, only in 12 instances have the passengers been at fault. Passengers travelling in private vehicles are also blamed in only 5% of the fatal accidents and in 2% of injury accidents. This clearly puts driver and riders of motor vehicles as being chiefly responsible for causing fatal accidents.

6%

6%

3%

6%

26%

54%

65%

4%

5%

5%

22%

24%

53%

69%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

Passenger - SLTC Bus

Pedestrian

Passenger (Other)

Passenger - Pvt Bus

Cyclist

Rider

Driver

Faulty Rate

Faulty Rate (Fatalities)Faulty Rate (All Casualties)

Figure 20 : Faulty Rate of Casualties

However, contrastingly, in the case of injury or death to motor cycle riders and also vehicle drivers, the picture is quite different. It is observed that in the case of the motor cycle, the rider is to be blamed in 53% of the accidents that sustain injury, while in the case of drivers of other motorized vehicles they are responsible for around 70% of the cases.

This analysis shows that injuries and deaths resulting from road accidents suffered by pedestrians, cyclists, bus passengers and passengers of private vehicles is mostly, as a result of negligence, on the part of the driver of the motorized vehicle, involved in the accident. However in the case of injury or death to riders of motor cycles and drivers of vehicles, the person injured or killed has been held responsible in the majority of instances.

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002 Chapter 9: Who are the Casualties

30

Table 13: Faulty Rate for Casualties

All Casualties Fatalities Casualty Type

Total Casualty @ Fault

Faulty Rate Total Casualty

@ Fault Faulty Rate

Pedestrian 7,232 462 6% 815 43 5% Rider 4,095 2,223 54% 339 180 53% Driver 3,280 2,122 65% 216 148 69% Passenger - SLTC Bus 486 27 6% 26 1 4%

Passenger - Pvt Bus 1,169 74 6% 51 11 22%

Passenger (Other) 5,119 134 3% 388 20 5%

Cyclist 2,922 761 26% 340 83 24% 24,303 5,803 24% 2,175 486 22%

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002 Chapter 10: Vehicle Maneuvers Cause Accidents

31

CHAPTER 10 : WHAT ARE THE VEHICLE MANEUVERS THAT CAUSE ACCIDENTS?

The Police accident records also indicate the maneuvers of the vehicles at the time of the accident. A summary table of two vehicle fatal accidents is given in Table 14. Of 794 records of accidents resulting in fatalities, 464 (or 58%) instances were when both vehicles were travelling straight ahead. These are accidents that are typically called ‘head on’ collisions.

Another 290 fatal accidents (or 37%) were caused when one of the two vehicles was travelling straight ahead. Of these, 78 accidents were caused during overtaking of another vehicle. A further 70 fatal accidents have occurred when the vehicle going straight ahead had collided with another making a right turn. Forty three fatal accidents are due to a stationary vehicle being hit from behind (rear-end collisions). Another 23 fatal accidents are due to collision between a vehicle going straight and another vehicle turning left. Emerging from by lanes and colliding with vehicles going straight has resulted in 19 fatal accidents. All other movements such as turning, reversing, parking have not added large numbers to the count of fatal accidents.

Table 14 : Matrix of Two Vehicle Fatal Accidents by Maneuvers of Vehicles at Time of Accident

S

tatio

nary

Star

ting

Turn

ing

Rig

ht

Turn

ing

Left

Ove

rtaki

ng -

insi

de

Emer

ging

from

Min

or ro

ad

Emer

ging

from

ang

le

park

ing

Turn

ing

roun

d

Rev

ersi

ng

Goi

ng s

traig

ht a

head

Oth

er

Total Stationary 2 15 17 Starting 4 1 1 4 10 Turning Right 2 2 16 3 23 Turning Left 9 9 Overtaking 2 4 2 1 55 4 68 Emerging from Minor 6 6 Turning round 5 5 Reversing 3 3 Going straight ahead 28 2 54 11 23 13 2 4 2 464 27 630 Other 1 1 1 11 9 16 31 7 61 12 30 13 2 4 3 588 43 794

These conclusions point to poor centre line demarcation and separations and high speeds which results in such a heavy proportion of ‘head-on’ collisions. Poorly designed intersections are also high lighted in this analysis.

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002 Chapter11: Drivers Experience

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CHAPTER 11 : ARE DRIVERS WITH MORE EXPERIENCE SAFER?

According to police records, 92,610 drivers were involved in road accidents in 2002. When analyzing the drivers experience as recorded by the Police, it was found that 10% (i.e. 8,997) of drivers involved in road accidents did not, at the time of the accident possess a valid driving licence. (Figure 21).

Not known5%

> 12 yrs25%

9 - 12 yrs7%

6 - 9 yrs10% 3 - 6 yrs

12%

0 - 3 yrs26%

DL not required5%

No DL10%

Figure 21 : Experience of Drivers Involved in road accidents (All Accidents) - 2002

Another 27% (i.e.. 25,258) of drivers had licences that were less than 3 years old, while drivers having licences older than 12 years accounted for 25% (i.e. 22,972) of all accidents.

According to the statistics, 2,967 drivers were involved in fatal accidents (including the drivers of the ‘not at fault vehicles’). Out of this 22% of drivers did not posses a valid driving licence. Another 23% of drivers had driving licences that were less than three years old while drivers with licences 12 years or older were responsible for only 16% of the fatal accidents. This is graphically shown in Figure 22.

Further analysis was done for the 2,041 drivers/riders at fault in the 2,967 fatal accidents As shown in Figure 23, alarming statistics show that out of this, 462 (or 23%) of drivers and riders responsible for fatal accidents did not possess a valid driving licence. The worst offenders were motor cyclists who made up nearly 49% of such cases, while in the case of lorry drivers it was 14% and 11% in the case of Light Vehicle (mostly Vans) drivers.

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002 Chapter11: Drivers Experience

33

Not known5%

> 12 yrs16%

9 - 12 yrs4%

6 - 9 yrs7%

3 - 6 yrs8% 0 - 3 yrs

23%

DL not required15%

No DL22%

Figure 22: Experience of Drivers Involved in Fatal Road Accidents

The combined revelations of high percentage of drivers without valid driving/riding licences and the increasing percentage of ‘hit and run’ accidents are a clear indication of the deteriorating standards with respect to traffic rules and the blatant disregard for even the basic tenets of road use which are possession of a valid driving licence and assisting a person who has been injured by you.

9 - 12 yrs5%

6 - 9 yrs8%

3 - 6 yrs9%

0 - 3 yrs25%

DL not required8%

No DL23%

Not known4%

> 12 yrs18%

Figure 23 : Experience of Faulty Drivers Involved in Fatal Road Accidents

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002 Chapter 12: Pedestrian Accidents

34

CHAPTER 12 : WHAT ARE THE PEDESTRIAN MOVEMENTS THAT RESULT IN ACCIDENTS?

Pedestrian accidents are analysed in this chapter. It is found that there were 7,232 pedestrian casualties due to road accidents in 2002. This was 30% of all road accident casualties in that year. There were 815 pedestrian fatalities in 2002. This was 37% of all road fatalities in that year (Figure 24).

Pax - SLTC Bus1%

Pax - Pvt Bus2% Driver

10%

Rider16%

Cyclist16%

Passenger18%

Pedestrian37%

Figure 24 : Percentage of Fatal Casualties by Casualty Type (2002)

When pedestrian accidents were analysed, it was found that only 8% of pedestrians were at fault for pedestrian related accidents. Further analysis also was done regarding the movement of the pedestrian at the time of the accident by degree of injury. This is shown in Table 15 and accordingly it is found that one half (i.e. 52%) of pedestrian fatalities (as well as other injury related pedestrian accidents) have occurred while the pedestrian was crossing the road-but not on a marked pedestrian crossing. The second most common activity that results in pedestrian accidents appears to be walking along the edge of the road or the shoulder or sidewalk, which makes up one third of all pedestrian deaths and injuries.

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002 Chapter 12: Pedestrian Accidents

35

These are therefore two extremely vulnerable activities that cause the bulk of pedestrian accidents. Of the 815 pedestrian deaths, only 15 have occurred on a pedestrian crossing while 409 has occurred crossing the road away from a marked crossing.

Table 15 : Pedestrian Activity by Degree of Injury

Injury Type

Pedestrian Activity Fatal Grievous Non-

Grievous Total Walking on shoulder or sidewalk 317 403 1,742 2,462 Walking on road carriageway 19 31 214 264 Crossing road not on a Pedestrian crossing 409 578 2,659 3,646 Crossing road on Pedestrian crossing 15 28 88 131 Playing on road 1 9 10 Pedestrian after drinks/drugs 1 2 3 6 Any other action 54 131 556 714 Total 815 1,147 5,271 7,233

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002 Chapter 13: Conclusions & Recommendations

36

CHAPTER 13 : CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS

This Book has been formulated not only for purposes of statistical information - but also to be used in improving the strategy for making roads safer for all. The following summary conclusions are reached together with the recommendation for reducing a particular form or type or pattern of accident, with specific strategic interventions aimed at improving road safety for a particular type of road user or by redressing a particular problem identified in the analysis through which safety for all users can be improved.

Why Accidents have kept on Increasing: Accidents have steadily increased with time on Sri Lankan roads. While there are a host of contributory factors, a rapidly increasing vehicle fleet is the primary reason.

The safety per vehicle km operated on Sri Lankan roads has marginally improved over time, but the risk of accidents faced by Sri Lankans has doubled over the last two decades. The primary reasons for this are (a) the rapid increase in the amount of travel undertaken by the population, (b) shift from relatively safer forms of transport such as public transport to extremely unsafe modes such as the motor cycle in recent times, (c) a combined effect of ineffective enforcement and blatant violation of road rules and (d) poor road design, lack of safety interventions and poor maintenance programs.

The Part of the country where Road Safety is Poorest: Even though the Western Province has the largest share of accidents, the North Western Province can be called the most unsafe for the road user and the residents when adjusted for transport activity levels and resident population. When analyzed this appears to be largely due to the intense use of motor cycles and Lorries when compared to other provinces. This province appears to deserve a targeted road safety campaign for motor cycle riders and lorry drivers.

Most Dangerous Roads in Sri Lanka: The Police Divisions of Kelaniya, Gampaha, Colombo, Nugegoda, Kegalle and Chilaw have the highest number of serious accidents. These are also areas where the main trunk roads to Colombo are located. Thus a special enforcement campaign as well as a road safety audit and improvements of the following four trunk roads is seen as deserving the highest priority as these 400 kms of roads are host to over 1,200 (or nearly 60%) of all the fatal accidents. A special police enforcement program together with steps of improving road markings, particularly centre median markings, separations and intersection improvements would have a marked effect on reducing the number of serious accidents.

• Colombo – Kandy Road –A1 (up to and including Kegalle Police Division)

• Colombo – Galle Road – A2 (up to and including Kalutara Police Division)

• Colombo – Puttalam Road – A3 ( up to including Chilaw Police Division) and

• Colombo – Ratnapura Road – A4 ( up to and including Ratnapura Police Division)

Since this area is relatively small compared to the 100,000 kms of road network spread throughout the country, a focused program on these 400 kms could easily reduce fatalities by as much as 200 to 400 per year. On the basis of an effective strategy these roads qualify for urgent attention.


37

Special Events & Festivities: There is also evidence that accidents increase sharply during times of special events such as holiday seasons and festivities. Special traffic enforcement programs for these events in the proximity to such locations would also be a strategic approach.

Weekends: Trunk Roads generally have a higher accident rate from Friday to Monday when weekend related traffic is observed. As such, more intensive enforcement strategies may best be deployed during such times on such roads.

Dangerous Vehicles on our Roads: Light Vehicles and Cars are among the vehicles that are most involved in road accidents. However, the Private Buses are by far the most dangerous and most lethal vehicle on our roads. In 2002, private buses were involved in 413 fatal accidents in which the drivers of those buses were held responsible in 349 instances. These accidents resulted in over 15% of the deaths particularly to other road users. Targeted enforcement programs and education programs are urgently needed to arrest this situation.

The motor cycle is found to be the most dangerous vehicle to use. There have been 339 fatal accidents involving the riders themselves. Thus emphasis on the use of safety equipment such as the use of the safety helmet and other general safety awareness programs should be directed at this group of road users who are most vulnerable to serious accidents.

Pedestrian Accidents: Among the victims of road accidents, pedestrians appear to be the most vulnerable with 815 deaths in 2002 with the fault being with the other party in 95% of the cases. In the case of cyclists too, of the 364 fatal accidents the cyclist was at fault in only 22%. In general it is seen that the bigger vehicle (or road user) is responsible for an accident with a smaller road user.

Of the offending vehicles, for pedestrian casualties, the motor cycle is the most dangerous vehicle. Possibly in trying to weave in and around pedestrians, they end up with many accidents. Light Vehicles too appear to cause many pedestrian deaths, possibly due to the high speeds at which many of them are driven and possibly the nature of impact on the frontal face of a van as opposed to a car or three wheeler, which may be less ‘sympathetic’ to the pedestrian on impact. As such, special attention on driving habits of motor cyclists and van drivers, which jeopardize the pedestrian, appears to be an important strategic intervention.

Speed Related Collisions: Nearly 60% of serious accidents are caused by single vehicle accidents in which there is a collision with a pedestrian or a fixed object. These are usually due to vehicles travelling at speeds excessive for that point, on the road and resulting in collisions with slow moving pedestrians or with road side objects, after going out of control. Controlling speeds through physical measures such as speed reducing devices in areas where there is heavy pedestrian activity and by enforcement methods in other areas is highly recommended to address this problem of speed related accidents.

Head on Crashes: Of the two-vehicle accidents, most accidents appear to occur when they are travelling in opposite directions. This is possibly evident of poor road markings especially centre median markings and separators. Thus road improvements in such locations especially within the 400 kms identified earlier is urgent.

Hit & Run Accidents: An alarming concern is that 1 in 11 serious accidents are classified as ‘hit and run’. The victims in most instances are hapless pedestrians and cyclists. In the case of pedestrian accidents that have resulted in deaths, nearly 1 in 6 accidents have been reported as ‘hit and run’.


38

The vehicles identified in running away are mostly motor cycles and light vehicles. Perhaps fines or penalties for such action should be increased urgently to arrest this trend.

Drivers without Licence: A further reason for accidents appears to be that while 10% of driver/riders meeting with accidents are reported to be without a valid driving/riding licence, this percentage increases to nearly 25% in the case of serious accidents. It is perhaps tragic that 1/4th of all deaths and serious injuries are caused by drivers/riders without a valid licence. Thus intense inspection programs especially for vehicles such as motor cycles, vans and lorries that appear to have a high percentage of such unlicensed drivers should be intensified. Moreover, another ¼th of accidents are attributed to drivers having less than 3 years experience. In fact only 16% of serious accidents are due to drivers who have licences that are older than 12 years. Thus the training and testing of younger drivers should be intensified.

Pedestrian Facilities: Of the 815 pedestrian deaths in 2002, 424 (52%) occurred while attempting to cross a road. Of such instances, 409 (97%) cases arose from the pedestrian crossing the road not on a marked crossing. While jay walking may be attributed to some accidents, the absence of marked crossings where necessary is another possible cause. In addition, walking on the shoulder or edge of the road has resulted in a further 336 deaths. The absence of safe walking areas is thus seen as a major obstacle to road safety. Clearing of unauthorized structures, parked vehicles and debris should be made mandatory for all the road authorities especially on the 400 kms of accident prone roads identified earlier.

With Compliments

from

Associated Motorways Ltd.,

185, Union Place, Colombo 2

Documents

ANALYSIS OF ROAD ACCIDENTS IN SRI LANKA - · PDF fileDepartment of Civil Engineering, University of Moratuwa, Moratuwa. ... Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002