By S Devendra

Sri Lanka has recently been reported as the third most traffic-congested country in the world and the most congested in Asia. Whether one agrees entirely with the methodology behind such international rankings or not, nobody who travels on our roads can deny that congestion has become a serious national problem.

But traffic congestion is only the visible symptom.

The deeper problem is the gradual erosion of discipline, courtesy and respect for rules in our society.

What we see every day on Sri Lankan roads is a reflection of a much wider problem. Drivers ignore lanes, motorists overtake dangerously, buses compete for passengers, three-wheelers stop wherever they please, motorcycles move between lanes and sometimes onto pavements, pedestrians cross roads wherever convenient, unnecessary horns are sounded continuously, and traffic rules are treated as suggestions rather than laws.

If this continues, we should not be surprised if our roads become increasingly chaotic.

Where did our discipline go?

The deterioration of discipline cannot be attributed to one institution or one generation.

It is the result of failures at several levels of society.

The first is the family. Children learn behaviour primarily by observing adults. If parents ignore traffic rules, jump queues, litter, drive aggressively or use influence to escape consequences, children learn that rules are negotiable.

The second is our education system.

From kindergarten through university, our education system places enormous emphasis on examinations, qualifications and academic achievement. But education must produce more than graduates. It must produce responsible citizens.

A properly educated citizen should understand respect for others, responsibility, punctuality, courtesy, respect for public property, obedience to the law and consideration for the vulnerable.

Road discipline should be part of civic education from the earliest years.

The third is our religious institutions.

Sri Lanka has a long and proud religious tradition. Our religious institutions have historically played an important role in teaching compassion, restraint, respect and responsibility.

But we must honestly ask whether we are succeeding in communicating these values to today’s younger generation.

Young people are living in a completely different social and technological environment. Religious institutions cannot simply expect young people to come to them. They must find effective ways of engaging with them and demonstrating that values such as compassion, self-control, honesty and respect remain essential to modern society.

The fourth is law enforcement.

And here we come directly to the traffic problem.

Stop Controlling Traffic — Start Enforcing Traffic Laws

One of the most frustrating sights during peak hours is to see traffic policemen switching off functioning traffic lights and attempting to manually control busy intersections.

The intention may be to improve traffic flow. In some particular circumstances, manual intervention may indeed be necessary.

But there is a serious problem when inexperienced or inadequately trained officers attempt to manually direct large volumes of traffic without properly understanding traffic priorities, lane movements and intersection management.

Instead of improving traffic flow, they can actually make congestion worse.

There is a much simpler principle:

If the traffic-light system is functioning properly, allow it to operate.

The role of the police should primarily be to enforce the rules.

If a driver crosses a red light, blocks an intersection, changes lanes dangerously or violates a traffic restriction, the police should intervene and prosecute the offender.

We should not need policemen standing in the middle of every intersection to tell citizens how to drive.

We need a system in which citizens know the rules, understand that the rules will be enforced and understand that breaking them will have consequences.

The major offenders

There are several groups whose behavior contributes disproportionately to traffic chaos.

Three-wheelers

Three-wheelers are an important part of Sri Lanka’s transport system and provide a livelihood for thousands of families. The issue is therefore not three-wheelers themselves.

The issue is undisciplined driving.

Sudden stopping, changing lanes without warning, stopping in traffic lanes to pick up passengers and driving unpredictably can create enormous disruption.

The answer is not to demonise three-wheelers. It is to enforce the same traffic laws against them as against every other vehicle.

Motorcycles

Motorcycles are extremely useful in a congested country. They are economical and occupy little road space.

But some motorcyclists appear to believe that their smaller size gives them the right to use every available space.

They move between lanes, undertake vehicles, ride on pavements and sometimes travel through spaces that are clearly unsafe.

Most seriously, motorcycles riding on pavements create a direct danger to pedestrians.

Pavements are for pedestrians.

This rule should be enforced without exception.

Buses

Buses—both private buses and CTB buses—are among the most important contributors to road congestion when poorly driven.

A bus should not be allowed to move unpredictably across several lanes simply because the driver wants to overtake another bus or reach a passenger.

Sri Lanka should establish and strictly enforce bus lanes wherever the road infrastructure permits them.

A bus using a designated bus lane should remain in that lane except when it is necessary to make an authorised turn or where road conditions specifically require otherwise.

Public transport must be given priority—but that priority must operate within a disciplined system.

Poor driving standards

Another major problem is simply poor driving ability.

Passing a driving test should not be regarded as the end of driver education.

Drivers need to understand:

• lane discipline;
• safe following distances;
• right-of-way;
• overtaking rules;
• merging;
• speed management;
• pedestrian priority;
• use of indicators;
• roundabout discipline; and
• defensive driving.

A vehicle travelling unnecessarily slowly can be just as disruptive as one travelling dangerously fast.

Appropriate minimum speeds on selected high-capacity roads, where safe and practical, should therefore also be considered.

The lane system must become meaningful

Our lane markings are often treated as decoration.

A driver moves halfway between two lanes, effectively occupying both.

Another overtakes from the left.

Another crosses several lanes without an indicator.

A motorcycle appears between two vehicles.

A bus moves from the left lane to the right lane and then suddenly stops.

How can a road system function efficiently under these circumstances?

Lane discipline must become a fundamental requirement of driving in Sri Lanka.

Drivers must understand that a lane is not merely a suggestion about where a vehicle should be.

It is a traffic-management system designed to allow hundreds or thousands of vehicles to move safely and efficiently.

Mobile phones and driving

There should be zero tolerance for using a mobile phone while driving.

A driver who looks at a phone for several seconds is effectively driving blind.

This is not a minor traffic offence. It can kill.

Police enforcement should therefore be severe and consistent.

Technology can also assist. Cameras and automated enforcement can identify offences without requiring a policeman to stop every vehicle.

Pedestrians have responsibilities too

Road discipline cannot be imposed only on drivers.

Pedestrians must also respect traffic regulations.

Where pavements are provided, pedestrians should use them.

Roads should be crossed at designated pedestrian crossings wherever available.

Where pedestrian traffic lights exist, pedestrians should cross only when the pedestrian signal permits them to do so.

Jaywalking should not become an accepted part of Sri Lankan road culture.

At the same time, authorities must ensure that pedestrian crossings, pavements, footbridges and pedestrian signals are properly designed, maintained and accessible.

The responsibility must be shared.

The unnecessary use of horns

Another uniquely irritating feature of Sri Lankan roads is the continuous and unnecessary sounding of horns.

A horn should be a warning device, not a means of expressing frustration.

We should also seriously examine the widespread use of excessively loud air horns.

Air horns fitted to vehicles should be removed unless specifically authorised. Vehicles should use only approved horns meeting prescribed sound-level limits.

There is no justification for a vehicle announcing its arrival several hundred metres away simply because the driver is impatient.

Noise pollution is also a public-health and quality-of-life issue.

What about smoky vehicles?

Every day we see vehicles belching black or excessive exhaust fumes.

Yet enforcement often appears inadequate.

A vehicle producing excessive emissions should be stopped and tested.

If it fails the required emission standards, it should not simply be waved through.

Environmental regulations must mean something.

Clean air is not a luxury.

Police resources must be used intelligently

If the Police Department genuinely lacks sufficient manpower for effective traffic enforcement, then the Government needs to examine whether its available personnel are being deployed in the best possible manner.

One area that deserves serious public discussion is the enormous manpower commitment associated with VIP and political security.

If trained police officers are sitting on VIP security duties while ordinary police stations struggle to maintain effective traffic enforcement, we have to ask whether this is the best use of national resources.

Where appropriate and consistent with national security requirements, trained personnel from the armed forces could potentially be considered for certain protective duties, thereby allowing more police officers to return to ordinary policing.

The principle should be simple:

Police officers should primarily be available to police the public and enforce the law.

Enforcement must be equal

There is one principle without which none of these reforms will work.

The law must apply equally to everyone.

A wealthy motorist, a politically connected individual, a government official, a businessman, a three-wheeler driver, a bus driver, a motorcycle rider and an ordinary citizen must all face the same consequences for the same offence.

If citizens believe that connections can make traffic offences disappear, respect for the law will inevitably decline.

Effective policing requires not only manpower but also independence, integrity and public confidence.

Technology can replace some manual policing

Sri Lanka should move much more aggressively towards technology-based traffic enforcement.

Cameras can identify:

• red-light violations;
• speeding;
• illegal lane changes;
• illegal parking;
• blocking intersections;
• dangerous overtaking;
• use of mobile phones;
• failure to wear helmets or seat belts; and
• other identifiable offences.

Automated enforcement reduces the opportunity for arguments between motorists and police officers and, importantly, can reduce opportunities for corruption.

A properly designed system could issue fines electronically, linked to the vehicle registration system.

The objective should not be to generate money.

The objective should be to change behavior.

Fines can initially increase government revenue

There is an interesting secondary benefit.

If traffic enforcement becomes serious, government revenue from fines will initially increase.

But that should not be the objective.

The real measure of success should be that fine revenue eventually falls because fewer people are committing offences.

That would mean the system is working.

We should aim for a situation in which people obey traffic rules not because a policeman is standing nearby, but because they know the law and respect it.

From punishment to discipline

Sri Lanka cannot fine its way into becoming a disciplined country.

Punishment is only one part of the solution.

We need a combination of:

Education + Family Values + Religious and Community Engagement + Effective Policing + Technology + Fair Enforcement + Political Leadership.

Children must be taught discipline.

Parents must demonstrate discipline.

Schools must reinforce discipline.

Religious institutions must communicate ethical values.

Universities must produce responsible citizens.

Police must enforce the law impartially.

Politicians must demonstrate respect for the law.

And citizens themselves must accept responsibility.

A National Road Discipline Programmes 

Perhaps Sri Lanka needs a national campaign specifically addressing road discipline.

It could begin in kindergarten and continue through schools, universities and driving schools.

Every new driver should receive proper instruction not only on how to operate a vehicle, but how to behave as a member of a traffic system.

The programmes should emphasize one simple principle:

The road does not belong to you. It belongs to everyone.

When you drive, you have a responsibility to protect the lives and rights of everyone around you.

Finally, let us stop blaming the younger generation

It is easy to say that today’s young people have lost their manners and discipline.

But who educated them?

Who raised them?

Who taught them how to behave?

Who demonstrated good behavior in front of them?

Who designed the education system?

Who enforces the law?

Who leads the country?

The younger generation did not create society by itself.

We created the environment in which it is growing.

Therefore, if we want disciplined young people, we must build disciplined institutions and demonstrate disciplined behavior ourselves.

Sri Lanka’s traffic congestion may have started as a transportation problem.

But it has now become a civic problem, an enforcement problem and ultimately a national discipline problem.

We cannot build a modern, prosperous Sri Lanka with modern roads and modern vehicles while maintaining an outdated culture of indiscipline.

The solution is not more traffic policemen waving their hands at intersections.

The solution is better-designed roads, functioning traffic lights, disciplined lanes, competent drivers, responsible pedestrians, intelligent technology and—above all—a culture in which people respect the law even when nobody is watching.

That is the Sri Lanka we should aspire to build.

We need to inculcate this until the Government introduce a decent public transport system and attract the middle class to use that instead of their private Car , three wheeler or the motorbike.   

A country where the traffic flows because the people follow the rules—not because a policeman is standing in the middle of the road telling them where to go.

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