LETTER TO THE EDITOR Where Have All The Lights Gone?

A recent news item read that attempts are being made to illuminate Sri Lanka’s expressways by laying aluminium transmission cables in place of Rs. 250 million worth copper current cables stolen during the pandemic. Now, if anybody wondered why there are tragic accidents happening on expressways, the previously mentioned news item would have answered their questions. But the situation looks even grimmer than what is being reported in the media. Perhaps this decision came about after a State Minister succumbed to injuries following a road accident last week. Following the state minister’s death, another foreigner succumbed to injuries following a road accident along the same highway.

Hence, the irony of these decisions is the fact that they come to light only when somebody of ‘their own’ faces consequences of haphazard development work. If a normal civilian succumbed to injuries there wouldn’t have been much drama. Already, conspiracy theories are building up around the late state minister’s death. Did someone bribe the driver to kill him? Where is the car that supposedly overtook the Minister’s vehicle? Was he pronounced dead on the spot or at the hospital?

Previously it was announced that drug addicts had stolen nuts and bolts along the Peliyagoda expressway. Road accidents have continued to kill people irrespective of having many experts in Road Safety at universities and other dedicated bodies. Many of them have practical solutions to minimize accidents happening on the road but those at the decision-making level are not yet ready to listen to them. There have been no feasible solutions to stop the recurrence of incidents such as the Passara bus accident. Perhaps we will continue to hear of these accidents, where those involving civilians would just be forgotten and those involving State Ministers would be remembered every year.