The Manampitiya bus accident, which, as per the latest reports, has claimed 10 lives with around 42 persons sustaining injuries, grabbed national headlines as one of the most devastating accidents the country has witnessed in the recent past. Reports claim that when the accident occurred, there were around 50 passengers in the bus, while certain uncorroborated reports place this number as high as 70.

The bus in question was travelling from Polonnaruwa to Kattankudy when it collided on the Kotaleeya Bridge before toppling into a river. The Police suspect that the bus driver losing control of the vehicle, which was travelling at high speed, may have caused the accident. It has been confirmed that the driver was not under the influence of alcohol at the time of the accident, although further probes are afoot to find out whether he was under the influence of some other substance, according to Police Media Spokesman, Senior Superintendent of Police Attorney Nihal Thalduwa.

The available information suggests that apart from mourning the tragedy that befell a number of families, there are lessons to be learnt. According to Thalduwa, this accident has occurred in a context where the bus driver in question had been fined on previous occasions for reckless driving. Therefore, while what truly led to the Manampitiya accident needs to be found out, what allowed a driver with a bad reputation to be reckless yet again, this time causing irreversible damage, is something that requires equal attention.

However, the “recklessness” surrounding road accidents is not confined to recklessness on the part of drivers. There is a much bigger recklessness on the part of the country’s transport sector policies and on the authorities in charge of the sector.

It was not recently that Sri Lanka discussed, and even made determined plans, to introduce a demerit system for driving licenses, to deter reckless drivers from continuing to be reckless. The basic structure of this system, which is not at all new to the world, is to deduct points from drivers’ licenses for identified traffic violations, and to suspend for a period of one year the licenses of the drivers with a certain number of points remaining. The Government’s plan was to implement this system from early this year, although it never saw the light of day. 

At the same time, despite bus associations and the media having pointed out, bus drivers’ working conditions are yet to be improved to a level that enables bus drivers to perform their job in a manner that is safe for passengers, pedestrians, buses and also public properties. The usual discourse on accidents caused by recklessness still revolves around drivers falling asleep, driving under the influence of intoxicating substances, and drivers simply not being sufficiently attentive. It is as if we have completely ignored the issues faced by bus drivers, especially their mental and physical capacities, which are limited as in the case of any human being and can be affected by external factors such as the lack of rest. There are reports that amply discuss drivers, especially those operating on long distance routes, not having facilities to rest, to have a meal peacefully, or clean themselves properly, at bus stations, and this has been pointed out by bus drivers on many occasions. The result is long distance buses being operated by drivers who lack sleep, rest and peace of mind, which could easily result in them not being in a physical and mental condition to operate a vehicle.

Both the abovementioned matters - the first one aimed at deterring drivers from being reckless habitually, and the second one aimed at improving bus drivers’ working conditions to enable them to work under less stress – point to recklessness on the part of the authorities, as they are not new but remain pressing issues in the transport sector. Perhaps, had those concerns been taken into account as was planned and demanded, the country would have a lesser number of lawbreaking drivers on its roads, and needless to say, a lesser number of road accidents and resultant loss of lives.

The bitter truth is that the Manampitiya accident attracted attention because of its magnitude. It is one of the thousands of accidents that Sri Lanka witnesses every year, which unfortunately do not receive as much attention because the death toll is not as high as that of the Manampitiya accident. Making the Manampitiya incident a lesson, the authorities should go beyond merely placing the blame on drivers, and instead, acknowledge and address the recklessness on their part.