Convoy curse

Wednesday, 11 July 2012 00:26 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

SCREAMING horns and squealing brakes are commonly heard on Sri Lanka’s streets. Not as one might suppose because of the hectic traffic, but due to the number of VIP and VVIP convoys that regularly bulldoze their way through, showing vast contempt and negligence for the safety of the common man.

The highest authorities in the land never lose a moment to assure the people that the country is safe, crime rates have not risen (even though they do not seem to be dropping) and all that remains is for citizens to give a grateful vote to their leaders and live happily.

Yet, if safety is assured and the country has returned to normalcy, then why do VVIP convoys try to reach the speed of light every time they find themselves among the common man? The very men, it can be pointed out, who put them in the plush tax-waived luxury vehicles in the first place.

If latest reports are to be believed, a woman was knocked down on Monday evening and seriously injured while trying to cross the road in Mount Lavinia. The fact that this happened while the woman with her child was walking on the pedestrian crossing and in front of the Mount Lavinia Magistrate’s Court simply lends spine-chilling irony to the situation.

It appears that a motorcycle driver who was part of the convoy knocked down the pedestrian, perhaps in an attempt to keep up with the demands of those inside who felt that public appointment has also anointed them with wings. Even though the suspect who is a member of the Presidential Security Division has been arrested, there are many questions over why such a tragedy was allowed to be repeated and why, even after previous deaths, there have been no attempts made to reduce fatalities by demanding that VVIPs also follow the law.

Technically, this should be a simple matter. VVIP convoys, even when they do not maim people, are a safety hazard and blatant nuisance that should be curbed. Even though the days when people were being stopped even at the height of rush hour and pedestrians rudely shooed off the pavement to allow VVIPs to whizz by have mercifully ended, the bane of the convoys remains.

They have been so long a public nuisance that one commentator of a popular news website had noted that a hearse should be added to the list of vehicles since an ambulance is already mandatory in some. Another had gone so far as to point out that the hearse should be a luxury BMW or Benz, with heavily tinted windows to match the quality of the rest of the convoy.

Snide comments aside, many people out there are simply sick and tired of the superior attitude of these convoys and the sheer arrogance they display in not caring about the lives of people. Spearheaded by the Police, an awareness campaign was launched recently on how on average six people die daily on the streets of Sri Lanka. Given how important it is to protect road rules and promote safe driving habits, it is truly disgusting how some VVIPs and VIPs blatantly disregard the law.

Even basic human decency demands better treatment and it is high time that speed-mongering convoys are made to follow rules. If no one is above the law, then the Government must prove it by treating people with fairness and dignity.