Govt. clamps down on tuk-tuks as death toll mounts

(AFP) Colombo: Sri Lanka on 13 January tightened the rules governing the around one million tuk-tuks - rickety three-wheel taxis - on its streets after road traffic accidents claimed a record 3,000 lives last year.

The transport ministry said all tuk-tuks must now have head and tail lights, and made it an offence for drivers to smoke while carrying passengers. All three-wheelers will also have to be fitted with fare meters and issue receipts to passengers, it said in a notice in the country’s official gazette.

The transport ministry also made it mandatory for the ubiquitous tuk-tuks to have electrically operated windscreen wipers and cabin lights. Police estimate that 3,000 people died on Sri Lanka’s roads last year and about 15% of those were tuk-tuk passengers.

Another 100,000 people are seriously wounded in traffic accidents each year in Sri Lanka.

Last month, the government announced raising the minimum traffic fines from about Rs. 500 ($ 3.3) to Rs. 25,000 ($ 166) in a bid to make Sri Lankan roads safer. The vast majority of three wheelers in Sri Lanka have been imported from neighbouring India and most of them are in poor condition.