Police have identified 712 high-risk locations across Sri Lanka as part of an effort to reduce road deaths, Inspector General of Police Priyantha Weerasooriya said, with funding and remedial work at those sites now being planned.

He was speaking at a meeting attended by the Minister of Public Security and other officials, Hiru News reported on Friday.

The IGP said 1,849 fatal road incidents have been recorded so far this year, and that the annual figure exceeds 2,500. Between seven and ten people die on the roads every day. Pedestrians and motorcyclists account for most of the deaths, he said, with three-wheeler crashes also recording a high figure.

Fining drivers is not the plan

Weerasooriya’s substantive point was that enforcement alone will not fix it. Road discipline “cannot be instilled solely by fining drivers,” he said, arguing that awareness of road rules and traffic law should be built into school textbooks from childhood.

That is a notable position from a police chief, and it pairs with the 712 locations: one half of the approach is engineering — fixing the places where crashes cluster — and the other is education rather than prosecution.

Checking the number against the last police figure

The 1,849 is a count of fatal incidents, not of people killed, and the distinction matters when reading it against earlier police statements.

On 21 August, DIG W.P.J. Senadheera of the Traffic Control and Road Safety Range put the toll at 1,749 deaths from 1,654 fatal accidents as of 20 August. Taking the like-for-like measure, fatal incidents have risen from 1,654 to 1,849 in 29 days — an increase of 195, or about 6.7 a day.

That sits just under the IGP’s “seven to ten people dying daily”, which is consistent: an incident and a death are not the same unit, and some crashes kill more than one person. The two sets of figures agree. Neither outlet nor either officer makes the comparison, and no report gives a current death toll to set beside August’s 1,749.

The IGP’s statement that the annual figure exceeds 2,500 also implies the year will close well above where it now stands — 1,849 by 18 September is running at a pace that reaches roughly that range by December.

Where the 712 came from is not explained

Hiru’s report does not say how the high-risk locations were identified, over what period, or which districts or roads they are on. It does not say what the “necessary provisions and future actions” being planned actually are — signage, lighting, junction redesign, speed enforcement or something else — who will pay for them, or when work starts.

Nor does it name the Minister of Public Security present at the meeting, give the occasion or venue, or say whether the Ministry of Transport is involved. The IGP gave no breakdown of the 1,849 by road-user category, so the shares attributed to pedestrians, motorcyclists and three-wheeler occupants cannot be checked.

The statement lands the day before a seat belt requirement for all expressway occupants takes effect, part of the road safety package announced on 21 August by Transport Minister Bimal Rathnayake. Neither the IGP’s remarks nor Hiru’s report mentions it.

Update (September 19): the money is Rs. 1.5 billion, and the survey question is answered

Two of the three gaps flagged above closed the next morning.

Where the 712 came from

NewsFirst, reporting the IGP’s remarks on Saturday, says a nationwide survey was conducted to identify locations where road accidents occur frequently. The resulting data has been compiled and provided to the authorities. That is the method Hiru’s account omitted.

NewsFirst also sharpens the pedestrian point: many pedestrian fatalities involve people who are simply walking or standing along the roadside — not crossing.

The year is running almost flat, not sharply worse

The more significant addition is a comparison neither Hiru nor this article could make. The IGP said the 1,849 fatal accidents recorded so far in 2026 are eight more than in the corresponding period last year, and that the number of fatalities has risen by 16.

That reframes the figure. Against a base of roughly 1,841 fatal incidents in the same period of 2025, an increase of eight is about 0.4% — essentially flat. The 195-incident rise computed above is the increase since 20 August this year, which is a seasonal accumulation, not a year-on-year deterioration. Both readings are correct and they measure different things.

It also means the IGP’s “annual figure exceeds 2,500” is a restatement of the existing annual toll rather than a warning of a worsening one.

Who pays: Rs. 1.5 billion, Rs. 60 million per district

The funding question is answered by a separate filing. The Ministry of Transport, Highways and Urban Development has allocated Rs. 1.5 billion to identify and make safe unsafe and dangerous locations on roads, Hiru News reported on Saturday.

The allocation is Rs. 60 million per district, with the work identified and carried out through local government authorities. Across Sri Lanka’s 25 districts that comes to exactly Rs. 1.5 billion — the money is distributed evenly, not weighted by where the crashes are.

Memorandums of Understanding with the chairmen and mayors of local government authorities were signed on Thursday 18 September, the same day the IGP made his remarks. Cabinet approved the programme on 1 June, following a memorandum from Transport, Highways and Urban Development Minister Bimal Niroshan Rathnayake.

Rathnayake made the same argument the IGP did, from the other side of government: reducing road mishaps “cannot be achieved solely through enacting laws and raising public awareness,” because the physical unsafe conditions on roads that lead to crashes must also be changed.

Two qualifications the reporting does not make

The money does not cover the same roads as the survey. Hiru is explicit that the Rs. 1.5 billion is for unsafe locations on roads outside the national road network. The IGP’s 712 locations are island-wide and not so limited. How many of the 712 sit on national roads — and are therefore outside this programme — is not stated by either outlet, and no separate allocation for those is reported.

The window is short. The MoUs come into effect on 19 September and are scheduled to remain operational only until 31 December 2026 — about fifteen weeks to identify, tender and complete remedial works across 25 districts. Neither outlet asks whether the allocation lapses with the MoUs or what happens to unspent funds.

Neither report states whether the IGP’s meeting and the MoU signing were the same occasion. Both took place on 18 September and both concerned engineering remedies at crash-prone sites, but the IGP was speaking at a meeting attended by the Minister of Public Security, while the MoUs are a Transport Ministry instrument. The two are plainly parts of one programme; no outlet connects them.

Sources