Twenty-eight vehicles operating in the Talawakelle area have been temporarily suspended from service after being found unroadworthy in a spot inspection, Nuwara Eliya District Chief Motor Vehicle Inspector Jaliya Bandara said.
The operation was conducted jointly by officers of the Traffic Branch of the Nuwara Eliya Police Division and Motor Vehicle Inspectors, and covered 40 vehicles travelling through Talawakelle — a checking rate that put seven in ten of the vehicles stopped out of service.
What was found
Bandara said the 28 vehicles were found to have various defects that made them unfit for road use. Their revenue licences were taken into custody and the vehicles were removed from service.
Four private buses and 15 three-wheelers were among those suspended. The vehicles inspected included buses, cars, motorcycles, vans and lorries.
The suspensions remain in force until the identified defects are rectified and the vehicles are presented for re-inspection. Service will resume only once they are confirmed roadworthy, Bandara said.
The operation was carried out as part of efforts to reduce road accidents and improve road safety in the area. Neither the police nor the Motor Vehicle Inspectors specified the nature of the defects found, and no prosecutions were announced.
Context
Talawakelle sits on the hill-country road network in the Nuwara Eliya district, where steep gradients and frequent mist place particular demands on brakes, tyres and lights.
The inspection comes as road-safety enforcement tightens nationally. Seatbelts become mandatory for all expressway passengers from September 19, under regulations the Cabinet approved this month alongside a wider revision of vehicle inspection rules.
Ada Derana reported the inspection; the story was picked up by aggregator sites but no other verified newsroom had filed its own account at the time of writing.
