Over 60% of bus drivers using narcotics at the wheel – Minister

2026-01-31 - 03:58

More than 60 percent of bus drivers engaged in passenger transport services on several short-distance routes in Colombo and its suburban areas are driving under the influence of narcotics, Transport, Highways and Urban Development Minister Bimal Ratnayake said yesterday. However, the Government has not conducted a full study in this regard and that this data was provided by the Bus Associations. Speaking to the media after the establishment of the Kandy District Transport Coordination Committee, Minister Bimal Ratnayake also said about 2,700 people died in fatal road accidents last year. Of these, about 2,000 were pedestrians, motorcyclists or people sitting on the back seat of the motorcycles. Analyzing these data, we can confirm that those travelling in modern vehicles today are safe to a certain extent. It is because those vehicles have been manufactured with more attention to safety. Of these deaths, 53 percent are male. These deaths caused by road accidents have a huge impact on the family economy.Road defects, vehicle defects, the mistakes of people traveling on the road, and the mistakes of the driver all contributed to these accidents. A study conducted in this regard found that more than 50 percent of these deaths were due to the driver’s faults. No matter how good the road and vehicle are, if the driver uses drugs, the safety of the passengers is at risk. The use of alcohol and drugs by drivers is the biggest factor in the number of road accidents that occur today that 10 out of 56 drivers randomly tested during a mobile drug screening program at Bastian Mawatha Bus Station were found to have used drugs. That means about 16 percent of the total. I think the number of drivers using drugs is even higher. “After the buses on Bastian Mawatha were tested, a significant number of buses did not operate the next day.That is because those drivers did not report for work. I believe that it was because of the fear of being tested for drug use”. “There were no laws or testing facilities in Sri Lanka to do the drug test if they were caught on the road.That advantage was taken by drivers who used drugs. It is Drunkometer, which is the first practical, portable device used by law enforcement to measure blood alcohol content (BAC) from a breath sample.Now we have introduced mobile testing laboratories with new laws.Using these, tests are being conducted to find out whether the driver and conductor were using drugs.We can get results in as little as 3 minutes for 12 drugs through a mobile bus with testing facilities.If anyone challenges this result, before presenting it to the court, the relevant person is referred to a doctor in a recognized hospital and a report is obtained. The law only acts if that report is the same as before. “These tests can be wrong by one in a 100,000. Don’t spread the news saying that these tests cannot be trusted. These buses with mobile labs are very expensive.The Health Minister said that another bus will be provided in February. If such buses can be provided to all nine provinces of our country, this work can be done successfully,” he said. (dailynews.lk)