More than 35 people were admitted to hospitals after two buses collided head-on in Sri Lanka's Southern Province on Sunday morning, police said in a statement.
Six people were seriously injured and were being treated at the main hospital in Matara District, police said, according to a report.
Local media reported that it was raining at the time of the accident.
According to the police, 12,140 people lost their lives in traffic accidents between 2020 and 2024.
The number of accidents involving buses is on the rise, and Sri Lankan authorities have been stepping up legal action against those who break traffic regulations on passenger buses.
The Sri Lankan government has permitted the recruitment of another 10,000 policemen to enhance their activities of stopping road accidents as well as engaging in anti-crime and anti-drug activities.
Recently, the police announced that 12,140 people died in traffic accidents between 2020 and 2024. In an effort to control the rising number of bus accidents, Sri Lankan authorities have been increasing legal action against violators of traffic laws on passenger buses.
According to the World Bank (2019), Sri Lanka has a relatively high rate of population density (346 per km2 ), road density (173.9km per 100 km2 ) and vehicle density (109.73 per km2 ). A report issued by the Department of National Planning in Sri Lanka (2017) found that 3,000km of roads within the national road network of Sri Lanka have surpassed a traffic volume of 10,000 vehicles per day.
Roads within cities generally have more vehicles than they can cater to at any given time, especially during peak hours. Adding a few highways and the requirement of having to reach various locations within Sri Lanka within a shorter time brings more and more vehicles onto the roads with regard to trip & other activities. Increased economic activity introduces more freight vehicles involved in transporting more merchandise, which also puts additional stress on the road network system.
This is particularly cumbersome in areas where a large fraction of roads, especially in urban areas, remain as two-way single carriage way roads. The difficulties faced in the expansion of the roads horizontally due to other landscape developments also remain a significant issue.
