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Motorcyclists claim accidents will surge without streetlights

10 Mar 2022

BY Buddhika Samaraweera The Ceylon Motorcyclists’ Association (CMA) has strongly objected to Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa instructing the heads of local government (LG) bodies to turn off streetlights until 31 March in the face of the current power crisis, claiming it would increase accidents. Speaking to The Morning, CMA President Chirantha R. Anthony Amarasinghe said: “Most of the motor accidents in the country are reported after 7 p.m. The high number of accidents during that time is mainly due to the improper operation of street lighting systems. Don’t those who make these decisions understand that turning off the existing streetlights will inevitably increase the number of accidents?” He further said that in the face of the failure of the present Government, endangering the lives of the people in this manner is totally unacceptable. Therefore, he said that steps would be taken to take people to the streets and to look into the possibility of taking legal action against this in the future. “If there is a power crisis in the country, it is because of the failure of the Government, but as a solution for such, we cannot allow these sorts of activities where the authorities knowingly endanger the lives of the people. Turning off the streetlights will lead to an increase in accidents as well as thefts. Therefore, instead of turning off the existing lights, we urge the Government to install more,” added Amarasinghe. Rajapaksa, on Monday (7), had instructed all heads of LG authorities to turn off all streetlights in the country until 31 March. In a special statement issued to all heads of LG bodies and group leaders, he said that in addition to deactivating streetlights, alternative ways of saving electricity should be implemented as much as possible in order to minimise the impact of the ongoing power crisis on daily life.


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