Reckless and ‘drunk-drivers’ to be severely dealt with

Govt. to reimplement marking system

By Sandun A Jayasekera

The government, perturbed by the sharp increase in fatal road accidents has decided to reintroduce the marking system for drivers and prosecute drivers for manslaughter who involve in fatal accidents with reckless or drunk- driving, a spokesman of the Transport Ministry said yesterday.   

According to the proposed marking system, a driver would be given 24 points subject to be deducted for each traffic offence marked on a chip fixed to his or her driving license. When the marks drop to ‘0’ the license will automatically become invalid.   

“The marking system was first introduced in 2009 but could not be activated as the Traffic Police was not provided with the software to use the chip on the driving license. Former Power, Energy and Transport Minister Mahinda Amaraweera instructed the National Transport Commission (NTC) to reintroduce the marking system in collaboration with the Traffic Police. The NTC expects to launch the project before the end of 2020,” the spokesman said.   

The Traffic Police would prosecute drivers for man slaughter when people get killed at fatal road accidents occurred as a result of extremely reckless driving or driving under the influence of liquor or drugs, he added.   

The private bus driver who ran over a soldier and seriously injured two others when he attempted to overtake another vehicle on the Nugegoda flyover and crashed onto the army vehicle on July 20th, will be the first driver to be charged for manslaughter under the new set up, the spokesman said. 

 
He added that Minister Amaraweera had also instructed the NTC to introduce a new set of guidelines for the driving instructors of training schools  as most of the instructors were retired drivers and they did not have proper experience to serve as driving instructors.   

• The marking system was first introduced in 2009 but could not be activated as the Traffic Police was not provided with the software to use the chip on the driving license