These MSD vehicles have the worst record of the slaughter having injured more than 500+ and killed more than 100 since the end of the war, with no recourse to them for compensation. The stories of people who have been thus affected are tragic, with livelihoods lost and average hardworking productive people being reduced to penury and begging with no recourse to the law for redress. ( In a civilized country, if you do not have recourse to the law for redress, it is effectively a Human Rights Violation)
I have appealed to a leading publisher to gather around 100 true stories arising out of these accidents, so that they may be highlighted in the press and the public made aware of the real risk they are in due to this large scale breaking of the norms of decency, while driving at excessive speeds mowing down pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists.
Only a few days ago, a back up police vehicle for the protection of the wife no less of the IGP (Why the wife of the police chief needs an escort is beyond me!!!) killed a motorcyclist near Pelmadulla, which resulted in the city of Pelmadulla ( full praise for people's agitation) rising up in demonstration which forced the police to remand the driver. Otherwise he would have gone free without even a summons!
In my case, the totally unroadworthy police/MSD escort vehicle which was an old Toyota high sided blue 4wd vehicle, which skidded into me was abandoned by the convoy of the Ministry of Justice at the site of my accident, and the occupants were removed in the Minister's other vehicles without giving a police statement. The police had to tow it to the Police Station, and they had the gall to ask me to pay for the tow!! when I only paid to tow my vehicle to the Police Station. That police vehicle after a lapse of over a month is still lying in the Police station in Minneriya, (you can go there and look at it today) unclaimed by the Ministerial Security Division, and the driver has NOT gone to the station to surrender his licence and as he was clearly the offender, not even taken into custody, pending a magisterial enquiry. They are hoping time will allow them to sweep it under the carpet. My license though is with the Minneriya Police for the purpose of their enquiries, what Justice is that?
Is this the Justice we expect in this country from the Minister of Justice? Old Royalists reading this should castigate him for putting their school to shame, as he has not even had the decency to of a phone call to enquire after my health! It goes to show it does not matter what school you went to anymore in SL the morals of the leaders is that of the gutter!
This practice must stop, as all the MSD contingent that give protection to MPs and various forms of Ministers have special radios that start crackling not when there is a threat to the VIP but when there is an accident, which is about 5 times a day. It is now a sport for the MSD security counting the road kill and injured (maybe even placing bets in true SL fashion of the day's tally), as they have nothing to do except travel around with the VIP feeling important, scrounging meals from every host the VIP visits ( I had to feed 10 security once when a VIP visited me!)
This practice must stop immediately. The back up vehicles which are not roadworthy anyway should be withdrawn and each VIP should just be given their standard two security personnel. We can then at a stroke of a pen save innocent lives, with no threat to the VIP security (their un-roadworthy vehicles are a greater threat to their own personal safety anyway)
There was an article in this Sunday's Times which said that moves are afoot to try and get all those hitherto uninsured vehicles of the state into the insurance ambit, so that those injured killed or somehow affected will have some redress and recourse for compensation. Its high time, please enact the appropriate legislation, so that the most important requirement is for all vehicles to follow the road rules and speed requirements, and know that they will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law if they flout it. If they know this, then there will not be this kind of owning the road mentality, driving in a way with no regard to other road users, and they would be more careful knowing they could be imprisoned, and action taken personally against them.
How about taking personal action against the minister as he is vicariously is liable for the actions of those under him. You can bet things will change in a jiffy!
