Sri Lanka recorded 19 fatal road accidents claiming 24 lives over the two-day Vesak weekend, the Police announced on Monday, in a sharp escalation of the holiday-period toll that has prompted renewed warnings on drink-driving and pedestrian safety.
Deputy Inspector General W.P.J. Senadheera, who heads Traffic Control and Road Safety, said the same 48-hour window also produced 26 serious accidents, 96 minor accidents and 19 incidents of property damage. Of the 24 fatalities, 13 were pedestrians, seven motorcyclists, one pillion rider, one cyclist, one driver and one passenger.
Senadheera said the figures pointed to reckless driving, drink-driving and weak enforcement of traffic laws during peak holiday traffic and public gatherings around dansala stalls and temple processions. Police would deal firmly with violations, particularly driving under the influence, he said, repeating a warning that ran through the Avurudu enforcement period and was reinforced for the Vesak Poya holiday.
The toll includes the six people killed in the Meegoda Vesak dansala crash on Sunday night, which Police on Monday reclassified as a case of grave and intentional homicide after determining the driver — who held no valid licence — had been ordered to stop and pursued before the cab ploughed into a queue at a wayside dansala.
A special Colombo Vesak traffic plan involving nine divisions has been in force since late May and was due to remain in place through the early-June close of the holiday period.
