Road accidents cost as much as 3% of SL’s annual GDP

Sri Lanka spent about 700 billion rupees due to road accidents, Dr. Ruwan Thushara Matiwalage, Convenor of the Expert Committee on Prevention of Road Traffic Crashes (PRTC) at the Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA) told a media briefing yesterday (22).

Dr. Matiwalage said about 3% the GDP was spent owing to road accidents.

“This is almost twice the current year’s health budget,” Dr. Matiwalage said, noting that about 3,000 Sri Lankans died in road accidents. “Most accidents involve motorcycles, and about 1100 motorcyclists died in 2022. So far, 16,939 road accidents have been reported in 2023, and 1,561 people have died in them,” he said.