Government to ban old vehicles plying on roads

The government is gearing up to remove 10 to 15 year- old un-roadworthy vehicles from the streets as such vehicles have also been one of the major causes for road traffic accidents and air pollution, official sources said.

The Motor Traffic Department will devise legislation providing regulations to prohibit the plying of old vehicles on roads empowering the Traffic Police to seize un-roadworthy vehicles and take necessary legal action to remove such vehicles from roads, a senior department official said.

He said the Police jointly with officials of the Motor Traffic Department will carry out spot checks on vehicles on the road to check their roadworthiness and take action accordingly.

"These special teams will check a vehicle for brakes, lights, side-mirrors, condition of the body and engine," he revealed. The government is working out a scheme to take 10 to 15 year- old, mechanically unsound vehicles off the roads as such vehicles pose a danger to other road users and to the environment.

This scheme is aimed at persuading franchised motor vehicle importers to buy old vehicles for scrap so that they could be removed from the roads or to exchange the old one with a new model reducing the scarp value of the old one.

The ultimate aim of these moves should be safer roads for all, a senior police officer, said adding that it will also help to prevent air pollution.

However, there should be a mechanism to encourage consumers to opt for brand new vehicles, official sources said, adding that the best mechanism is to impose a lower duty/tax band for brand new vehicles and a higher one for reconditioned ones, regardless of vehicle category Sri Lanka opened the floodgates to vehicle imports from Japan and some other countries, regardless of the age of the vehicles in the late 1970s.