Abstract

According to the available records of World Health Organization, road traffic accidents contributes for nearly 1.3 million deaths in a year around the globe. Further, the same record says another 50 million injuries are also reported due to road traffic accidents.

As such, a study was carried out based on a structured questionnaire to investigate the public opinion on contributory factors for often road traffic accidents.

The survey was carried out among visitors for the annual general convocation of the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. Since the University of Peradeniya is one of the leading state universities, students from all over the country attend nine different faculties of studies.

There were 487 respondents for the survey and among the respondents nearly 70% were male and the balance were female. While there were good representation from all the over the country, both Sinhala speaking as well as Tamil speaking respondents have shared their views for this survey. Over 98% of respondents had at least the primary education. With respect to the driving frequency, there was a good representation from never to daily driving respondents.

The idea was to check the opinion of general public about the contributory factors for road traffic accidents. According to the responses collected, majority highlighted the importance of driver condition compared to many other factors, Those included having a valid driving license, proper training before issuing a driving license as well as regular training programs. Respondents did not show much faith in the legal system such as presence of traffic police on the road or increasing heavy traffic fines, rather they wanted to have a system to implement strict rules and regulations. These should be considered by policy makers in taking actions to prevent road traffic accidents.