ANALYSIS OF ROAD ACCIDENTS IN SRI LANKA Motor Cycle

600

Light Vehicle

485

Lorry

454

Private Bus

415

Bicycle

364

3 Wheeler

189 176

Car 97

Other Vehicles Land Vehicle

85

SLCTB Bus

83

Forces Vehicle 19 0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

No of Vehicles invovled in Fatal Accidents

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

Prof. Amal S. Kumarage, University of Moratuwa Mr. S.M. Wickremasinghe, Director Traffic, Sri Lanka Police Ms. M.D.R.P. Jayaratne, University of Moratuwa

October 2003

Copyright © October 2003

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

ISBN 955-9027-14-X

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

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

i

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

i

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

ii

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

iii

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

iv

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002

Executive Summary

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.

i

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002

Executive Summary

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.

ii

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002

Executive Summary

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 iii

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002

Executive Summary

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.

iv

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002

Chapter 1: Introduction

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.

1

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002

Chapter 2: Have Accidents Increased?

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 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002

Fatal 811 817 854 1,038 1,173 1,180 1,308 1,258 1,223 1,253 1,165 1,365 1,454 1,714 1,255 1,302 1,346 1,414 1,481 1,560 1,705 1,874 1,938 1,983 1,993 2,038

Grievous 834 1,030 1,102 1,410 1,347 1,318 1,301 1,304 1,233 1,471 1,525 1,348 1,287 1,703 1,899 2,112 2,299 2,554 2,588 2,615 3,310 2,393 2,632 2,992 3,390 3,286

NonGrievous 6,158 6,833 7,123 8,873 8,947 8,155 7,900 7,503 7,318 8,610 8,568 7,935 7,733 9,462 9,685 10,386 11,687 11,992 12,233 11,510 10,037 11,417 11,612 11,756 11,546 12,725

Damage Only 7,494 9,607 10,816 12,390 13,189 13,349 13,653 14,469 14,410 20,597 22,036 22,380 21,222 21,584 21,305 23,977 26,163 27,855 31,837 32,990 33,481 35,275 37,333 37,508 35,165 36,862

Total 15,297 18,287 19,895 23,711 24,656 24,002 24,162 24,534 24,184 31,931 33,294 33,028 31,696 34,463 34,144 37,777 41,495 43,815 48,139 48,675 48,533 50,959 53,515 54,239 52,094 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.

2

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002

Chapter 2: Have Accidents Increased?

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.

Growth Rate (1 9 8 0 =1 0 0 )

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 Trends in Growth Rates (1 9 8 0 =1 0 0 ) fleet of vehicles 550 or the estimated O perational Vehicles vehicle kms 50 0 O perated Vehicle kilometers operated for that Road Accident 450 Passenger km year. Accident Fatality 40 0 Furthermore, the Population growth rate for 350 fatal accidents is 30 0 significantly 250 lower than all other types of 20 0 accidents 150 reported. 10 0 50 1980

1985

1990

1995

20 0 0

2005

Year

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.

3

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002

Chapter 2: Have Accidents Increased?

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 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002

Road Accident Fatalities

All Deaths

Ratio

892 864 939 1,106 1,238 1,249 1,362 1,302 1,305 1,479 1,232 1,381 1,592 1,788 1,532 1,515 1,402 1,608 1,669 1,724 1,823 1,945 2,056 2,144 2,158 2,175

103,284 93,971 94,244 91,020 88,481 92,244 95,174 100,725 98,089 96,145 99,756 95,934 105,239 97,716 95,574 98,380 96,179 100,394 104,707 122,161 114,782 111,405 114,472 112,569 111,100 110,637

116 109 100 82 71 74 70 77 75 65 81 69 66 55 62 65 69 62 63 71 63 57 56 53 51 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.

4

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002

Chapter 2: Have Accidents Increased?

Fatal Accidents per Year per One Hundred Thousand People 12 10 Accidnet Rate

8 6 4 2 1977

1982

1987

1992

1997

2002

Year 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.

5

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002

Chapter 2: Have Accidents Increased?

Fatality Rate per one hundred thousand Population (1 9 7 7 -2 0 0 2 ) 12.0

all users veh. user

10.0

pedestrians

Fatality Rate

8.0

6.0

4.0

2.0

0.0 1975

1980

1985

1990

1995

2000

2005

Year Figure 3 : Fatality Rate per 100,000 Population

6

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002

Chapter 3: Where do Road Accidents Occur?

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.

Fatal 4%

Grievous 6%

NonGrievous 23%

Damaged Only 67%

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.

7

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002

Chapter 3: Where do Road Accidents Occur?

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

Western Province Eastern Province Northern Province Southern Province Central Province North Central Province North Western Province Sabaragamuwa Province Uva Province Total (100%)

Fatal 796 39% 102 5% 58 3% 239 12% 149 7% 45 2% 424 21% 172 8% 53 3% 2,038

Grievous 1,288 39% 189 6% 119 4% 351 11% 258 8% 66 2% 578 18% 322 10% 115 3% 3,286

Class of Accident Non-Grievous 5,488 43% 674 5% 387 3% 1,370 11% 1,361 11% 231 2% 1,595 13% 1,116 9% 503 4% 12,725

Damaged Only 25,106 68% 748 2% 414 1% 1,562 4% 2,965 8% 631 2% 2,502 7% 2,131 6% 803 2% 36,862

Total 32,678 60% 1,713 3% 978 2% 3,522 6% 4,733 9% 973 2% 5,099 9% 3,741 7% 1,474 3% 54,911

Road Accidents in Sri Lanka 2002 Northern Province 2% North Central Province 2%

Western Province 59%

Eastern Province 3% Southern Province 6% Uva Province 3%

Sabaragamuwa Province 7%

North Western Province 9%

Central Province 9%

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

8

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002

Chapter 3: Where do Road Accidents Occur?

Fatal Accidents in Sri Lanka 2002

Western Province 39%

North Central Province 2%

Uva Province 3%

Northern Province 3% Eastern Province 5% Central Province 7% Sabaragamuwa Province 8%

North Western Province 21%

Southern Province 12%

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. 9

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002

Chapter 3: Where do Road Accidents Occur?

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

Province Central North Central North Western Sabaragamuwa Southern Uva Western

per 10^6 Vehicle Kms

Rank

0.22 0.15 0.38 0.27 0.32 0.30 0.22

6 7 1 4 2 3 5

27.73

Fatality Rate Per 10^5 Population 7.41 3.80 19.14 11.97 10.23 5.89 17.01

Rank

Composite Rank

5 7 1 3 4 6 2

4 5 1 3 2 5 3

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 2

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

10

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002

Chapter 3: Where do Road Accidents Occur?

NWP

12.86%

SP

9.51%

EP

9.19%

WP

9.06%

NCP

8.94%

SAB

8.18%

NP

7.26% 6.05%

CP Uva

4.46% 0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

14%

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.

2001 2002

Panadura Galle Kalutara Mt. Lavinia Kandy Ratnapura Anuradhapura Negombo Kurunegala Chilaw Kegalle Nugegoda Colombo Gampaha Kelaniya 0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

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

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002

Chapter 3: Where do Road Accidents Occur?

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.

12

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002

Chapter 4: When do Accidents Occur?

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 All Road Accidnets with Time of Day (2002) between 19 > 3,300 and 21 2500 - 3300 < 2500 1 24 2 34 5 23 hours, while 22 6 21 7 20 on the 8 19 Kandy Road (A1) it is 18 9 between 16 and 19 hours. On B 17 10 class roads this is during 16 11 the morning 12 15 hours, while 13 14 on minor roads it is Fatal Accidents by Time (2002) between 13 and 16 > 110 hours. No 90 - 110 24 1 2 3 4 23 5 6 22 < 90 clear reason 7 21 for this can 8 be assigned 20 9 at present. More 10 investigation 19 s may be 11 required to 18 determine 12 17 13 the causes 14 16 for this. 15 Figure 10 : Accidents by Time

13

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002

Chapter 4: When do Accidents Occur?

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.

14

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002

Chapter 5: On what Roads do Accidents Occur?

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) Road Class

Time Range (Hrs.) 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 Other A Roads

2

4

4

2

7

7

7

1

34

B

1

C M Uncoded roads

2

8

5

5

9

14

7

50

7

19

15

12

16

9

12

91

1

1

1

5

3

2

2

15

1

1

2

2

1

1

8

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 15

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002

Chapter 5: On what Roads do Accidents Occur?

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.

16

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002

Chapter 6: What are the vehicles involved?

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 Nongrievous” 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) Vehicle Type

Fatal #

Injury

Rank

#

Damage Only

Rank

#

Rank

Total #

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

85 2,967

9

346 24,391

8

350 65,252

9

781 92,610

9

Land Vehicle

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

17

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002

Chapter 6: What are the vehicles involved?

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. Motor Cycle

600

Light Vehicle

485

Lorry

454

Private Bus

415

Bicycle

364

3 Wheeler

189 176

Car 97

Other Vehicles Land Vehicle

85

SLCTB Bus

83

Forces Vehicle 19 0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

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.

18

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002

Chapter 6: What are the vehicles involved?

Forces Vehicle 15 47

Accidents

Other Vehicles SLCTB Bus

65

Land Vehicle

67 87

Bicycle

126

3 Wheeler

139

Car

349

Private Bus Motor Cycle

371

Lorry

372 403

Light Vehicle 0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

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

Vehicle Type

Bicycle Motor Cycle 3 Wheeler Car Light Vehicle Land Vehicle Forces Vehicle Private Bus SLCTB Bus Lorry Other Vehicles

2002 No of Vehicles involved in Fatal Accidents Faulty Drivers/ Total Rider 87 364 600 371 189 126 176 139 485 403 85 67 19 15 415 349 83 65 454 372 97 47 2,967 2,041

Faulty Rate for Fatal Accidents 24% 62% 67% 79% 83% 79% 79% 84% 78% 82% 48% 69%

2001 No of Vehicles involved in Fatal Accidents Faulty Rate Faulty for Fatal Drivers/ Accidents Total Rider 78 22% 357 63% 571 362 159 106 67% 150 128 85% 472 400 85% 59 44 75% 26 24 92% 410 338 82% 91 65 71% 482 391 81% 113 70 62% 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.

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Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002

Chapter 6: What are the vehicles involved?

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.

24%

Bicycle

2002 2001

22%

48%

Other Vehicles

62% 62%

Motor Cycle

63% 67%

3 Wheeler

67%

SLCTB Bus

71%

Land Vehicle

78%

75%

79% 82%

Lorry

81%

84%

Private Bus

82%

Light Vehicle

83%

85%

Car

79%

Forces Vehicle

79%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

85% 92%

90%

100%

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 20

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002

Chapter 6: What are the vehicles involved?

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.

20

0.7 Fatality Rate per ‘000 Vehicles Fatality Rate per mn veh kms

18

0.6

16

per 000' vehicles

12

0.4

10 0.3

8 6

per mn veh kms

0.5

14

0.2

4 0.1

2 0

0 Private Bus

Lorry

SLCTB & Other

Light Vehicle

Land Vehicle

Motor Cycle

Car

3 Wheeler

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,

21

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002

Chapter 6: What are the vehicles involved?

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 Type 3 (2001) Fatality Rate per ‘000 Vehicles

Fatality Rate per mn veh kms

Composite Rank

-

-

-

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

Bicycle

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.

22

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002

Chapter 7: Types of Accidents

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)

Single Vehicle Accidents Two - Vehicle Accidents Multi - Vehicle Accidents

Fatal 1,180 58% 794 39% 64 3% 2,308

Class of Accident NonGrievous Grievous 1,527 6,459 47% 51% 1,666 6,036 51% 47% 93 230 3% 2% 3,286 12,725

Damaged Only 9,784 27% 25,869 70% 1,209 3% 36,862

Total 18,950 35% 34,365 63% 1,596 3% 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.

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Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002

Chapter 7: Types of Accidents

Table 10 : Single Vehicle Accidents by Vehicle Type & Object of Collision (2002) Pedestrian 174 (70%) 1,535 (61%) 782 (45%) 729 (25%) 1,365 (26%) 750 (34%) 88 (26%) 0 (0%) 716 (23%) 66 (25%) 30 (26%) 146 (69%) 6,381

Bicycle Motor Cycle 3 Wheeler Car Light Vehicle Private Bus SLCTB Bus Other Buses Lorry Land Vehicle Forces Vehicle Other Vehicles Total

Other Objects 73 (30%) 971 (39%) 974 (55%) 2,192 (75%) 3,839 (74%) 1,477 (66%) 250 (74%) 6 (100%) 2,440 (77%) 195 (75%) 85 (74%) 67 (31%) 12,569

What are the Vehicles that Cause Pedestrian Accidents

No. of Single Vehicle Fatal Accidents Colliding with Pedestrians

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. 1,500 1,400 1,300

Fatal Injured

1,200 1,100 1,000 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 -

Forces Vehicle

Land Vehicle

SLCTB Bus

Bicycle

3 Other Wheeler Vehicles

Car

Motor Cycle

Lorry

Private Bus

Light Vehicle

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

24

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002

Chapter 7: Types of Accidents

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

No. of Single Vehicle Fatal Accidents involving Collision 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. 700 Fatal

600 Injured

500 400 300 200 100 0 Forces Vehicle

Car

Bicycle

SLCTB Bus

3 Wheeler

Light Vehicle

Land Vehicle

Private Bus

Lorry

Motor Cycle

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

25

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002

Chapter 7: Types of Accidents

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.

70

60

50

40

30

20

10 Cyclist Four Wheelers

0

Motor Cycle

e

rr y

cl hi Ve

es O

th

er

rc Fo

es

cl hi Ve

Ve

e

hi cl

Lo nd La

SL

C

TB

Bu

s

Bu

ic Pr

iv a

te

eh tV gh Li

3 Wheelers

s

le

ar C

er el he

W 3

M

ot

or

C

Bi

yc

cy

le

cl

e

Large Vehicles

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

26

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002

Chapter 8: Hit & Run Accidents

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 Only 35%

Fatal 9%

Grievous 9%

Non-Grievous 47%

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.

27

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002

Chapter 8: Hit & Run Accidents

Grievous 3%

Fatal 1%

Non-Grievous 13%

Damaged Only 83%

Figure 19 : Breakdown of Hit and Run Accidents Involving Two Vehicles Table 11: Number of Single Vehicle Hit & Run Accidents by Object of Collision Object of Collision Pedestrian Other Objects Total

Fatal 122 9 131

Class of Accident Grievous Non-Grievous 117 578 12 83 129 661

Total 818 593 1,411

Damaged only 1 489 490

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 Bicycle Motor Cycle 3 Wheeler Car Light Vehicle SLCTB Bus Lorry Other Vehicles or unknown Total Instances ‘Hit”

Cyclist

Motor Cycle

4 1 4

3

3 Wheelers

Four Wheelers

Large Vehicles

1

2

2 6 2

1 1

4

1 1

7

1

20

4

2

Pedestrian involved accidents

1 2 2 1 1

Total ‘Run’ Instances 2 13 4 3 11 1 8 8

3

3

13

7

50

28

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002

Chapter 9: Who are the Casualties

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.

69% 65%

Driver 53% 54%

Rider 24% 26%

Cyclist

Passenger - Pvt Bus

22%

6% 5% 3%

Passenger (Other)

Pedestrian

5% 6%

Passenger - SLTC Bus

4% 6% 0%

10%

Faulty Rate (Fatalities) Faulty Rate (All Casualties)

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Faulty Rate

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.

29

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002

Chapter 9: Who are the Casualties

Table 13: Faulty Rate for Casualties All Casualties Casualty Type

Total

Casualty @ Fault

Fatalities 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%

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%

Passenger - SLTC Bus

30

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002

Chapter 10: Vehicle Maneuvers Cause Accidents

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.

1

15 4 16 9 55

2 4

2

1 2

1 2

4

2

Other

Going straight ahead

Turning round

Emerging from angle parking

Emerging from Minor road

Overtaking - inside

Turning Left

Turning Right

Starting

Reversing

Stationary Starting Turning Right Turning Left Overtaking Emerging from Minor Turning round Reversing Going straight ahead Other

tationary

S

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

3 4

6 5 3 28 1 31

2

54

11

7

61

12

1

23 1 30

13

2

4

2

13

2

4

3

464 11 588

Total 17 10 23 9 68 6 5 3

27 9 43

630 16 794

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.

31

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002

Chapter11: Drivers Experience

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 known 5%

> 12 yrs 25%

9 - 12 yrs 7%

No DL 10%

DL not required 5%

0 - 3 yrs 26% 6 - 9 yrs 10%

3 - 6 yrs 12%

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.

32

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002

> 12 yrs 16%

Chapter11: Drivers Experience

Not known 5%

No DL 22%

9 - 12 yrs 4%

6 - 9 yrs 7% DL not required 15% 3 - 6 yrs 8%

0 - 3 yrs 23%

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.

> 12 yrs 18%

Not known 4%

No DL 23% DL not required 8%

9 - 12 yrs 5%

6 - 9 yrs 8%

3 - 6 yrs 9%

0 - 3 yrs 25%

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

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002

Chapter 12: Pedestrian Accidents

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 Bus 1% Pedestrian 37%

Pax - Pvt Bus 2%

Driver 10% Rider 16%

Cyclist 16% Passenger 18%

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.

34

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002

Chapter 12: Pedestrian Accidents

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

Walking on shoulder or sidewalk Walking on road carriageway Crossing road not on a Pedestrian crossing Crossing road on Pedestrian crossing Playing on road Pedestrian after drinks/drugs Any other action Total

Fatal

Grievous

NonGrievous

Total

317 19

403 31

1,742 214

2,462 264

409

578

2,659

3,646

15

28 1 2 131 1,147

88 9 3 556 5,271

131 10 6 714 7,233

1 54 815

35

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002

Chapter 13: Conclusions & Recommendations

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.

36

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002

Chapter 13: Conclusions & Recommendations

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’.

37

Analysis of Road Accidents in Sri Lanka, Report for 2002

Chapter 13: Conclusions & Recommendations

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.

38

With Compliments from

Associated Motorways Ltd., 185, Union Place, Colombo 2