Motorcycles now account for more than half of every vehicle registered in Sri Lanka, and police say the surge is showing up directly in the country’s fatal accident figures.
Speaking at a media briefing at Police Headquarters on Thursday, Deputy Inspector General W.P.J. Senadheera, who heads the Traffic Control and Road Safety Range, said Sri Lanka has close to 9.2 million registered vehicles, of which over 5.2 million are motorcycles. A further 70,000 electric two-wheelers have entered the system on top of that.
A three-year surge
The registration data shows how fast the fleet has grown. In 2024, some 65,289 motorcycles were registered out of 74,410 new vehicles overall. In 2025 that jumped to 254,817 out of 362,100. So far in 2026, roughly 273,421 of the 398,538 vehicles registered have been motorcycles.
Senadheera said lightweight, affordable models — many of them Indian-manufactured — became popular because they are economical and within reach of ordinary households. Scooters have grown common among women, and motorcycles now serve as family transport in both towns and villages.
Why the crashes happen
The problem, according to police, is that a growing share of young riders are not using them for transport. Investigators keep finding the same sequence: excessive speed, a sudden attempt to brake, loss of control, the rider thrown onto the road, then struck by oncoming traffic or run over from behind.
Lightweight bikes become hard to control at high speed, Senadheera said, so the very qualities that make them attractive turn into a liability when ridden recklessly. Riders aged roughly 18 to 20 feature heavily in serious crashes, and many hold no valid licence.
He also raised a habit he sees among parents — buying motorcycles as reward gifts after O-Level or A-Level results.
Enforcement tightened
Ada Derana reported that traffic officers have now been instructed to act without leniency against motorcycles carrying illegal modifications, altered exhaust noise or other changes to their original design, as well as unregistered bikes with engine capacities above the permitted limit.
Senadheera said police have observed groups riding while under the influence of narcotic pills, cannabis, crystal methamphetamine or cocaine. “We have informed traffic officers not to give any forgiveness and not to let the entire society be in danger,” he said.
Officers-in-charge have also been told to arrest anyone who hands a vehicle to a person under 18, or to an adult without a valid licence — parents included.
At the same briefing, police reported that 1,693 people have been killed on the roads so far this year, with motorcyclists the single largest group of victims.
