Sri Lanka’s traffic police says it will take legal action against insurance companies that stop road accidents from being reported to the police. "We are considering taking legal action against insurance companies that encourage people not to report road accidents to the police," said SSP Lucky Peiris, from the traffic police.
According to Sri Lanka’s Motor Traffic Act, accidents must be reported to the police.
But although road accidents, including deaths, increased in 2004 compared to 2003, the total number of accidents reported to the police, reduced by nearly 6,000.
Police entries for 2004 show 2,116 fatal road accidents in 2004 that killed 2,214 compared to 1,933 fatal accidents in 2003 that killed 2,096 people.
Sri Lanka has 3,700 traffic police officers to man 98,000 km of road and traffic cops reported increases in all accidents, from those that just saw simple damages to grievous injuries to deaths.
But the total number of accidents officially reported to the police i