The leading cause of premature deaths among children is road accidents. Startling statistics reveal that from January to the end of September, 198 children lost their lives in road accidents, and more than ninety percent of them were school children.
Dr. Sanjay Perera, member of the Road Accident Prevention Committee within the Sri Lanka Medical Association, disclosed that the government’s annual expenditure in dealing with road accident injuries and maintaining vehicles and infrastructure amounts to a staggering 700 billion rupees.
Furthermore, Dr. Perera emphasized the dire situation, stating that approximately 3,000 lives are lost every year due to road accidents, and an additional 9,000 lives are claimed by accidents within the country. Astonishingly, he compared these figures to the 30,000 lives lost during a 30-year war, underscoring the severe impact of road accidents.
In the latest available data, 411 children (aged 1-19) lost their lives in road accidents last year, and the tragic trend continues with 198 children succumbing to road accidents from January to September this year.
