The government plans to introduce dedicated motorcycle lanes on major roads, with a pilot project to begin at Kaluwanchikudy, Minister of Transport, Highways and Urban Development Bimal Rathnayake has announced.
Under the pilot, a section of the main road at Kaluwanchikudy will be reserved exclusively for motorcycles. The lane will not be marked out with paint but physically separated from other traffic using road breakers and dividers — a choice the minister linked both to the high volume of motorcycles in the area and to improving compliance.
Rathnayake said around 2,500 people are killed on Sri Lankan roads each year, and that motorcyclists account for the majority of those deaths. He argued that the national toll cannot be brought down without addressing motorcycle safety and riding patterns specifically.
The two newsrooms reporting the announcement gave different figures for last year: Ada Derana reported the minister putting the 2025 death toll at approximately 2,750, while the Daily Mirror reported total road fatalities in 2025 reaching 2,550.
Citing the National Council for Road Safety and Sri Lanka Police, the Daily Mirror reported motorcycle deaths of 1,400 in 2019, 1,250 in 2020, 1,350 in 2021 and 1,009 in 2022, with more than 1,000 deaths in each of 2023 and 2024. Around 9,000 people have died in motorcycle-related crashes over the past decade.
No timeline was given for construction at Kaluwanchikudy, or for extending the scheme to other roads if the trial succeeds.
Motorcycles are the most numerous class of vehicle on Sri Lankan roads, and riders and pillion passengers are consistently the largest group among road deaths.
