Police have named the passengers who fall outside the mandatory seat belt requirement on expressways, three days after the rule began to be enforced.

Deputy Inspector General of Police W.P.J. Senadheera said the requirement does not apply to young children, or to passengers below four and a half feet in height, under the terms of the relevant Gazette notification. Passengers who have been medically advised not to wear a seat belt are also exempt.

Officers will take those circumstances into account when enforcing the rule and grant the exemptions where they apply, Senadheera said, as reported by Daily Mirror.

He nonetheless urged drivers to make sure that children and passengers who cannot be belted for medical reasons are carried safely, particularly on expressways.

The rule the exemptions attach to

Seat belts became compulsory for all passengers — front and rear — on Sri Lanka’s expressways from midnight on 18 September, after the Transport Ministry ruled out any further grace period. The height and medical carve-outs are the first public detail police have given on how the Gazette’s scope is limited in practice.

Two figures the police statement does not give: what counts as a “young” child, and what documentation, if any, a medically exempt passenger is expected to carry. The height threshold — four and a half feet, or roughly 137 cm — is close to the point at which an adult lap-and-diagonal belt stops sitting correctly across a child’s chest and hips, which is the usual engineering basis for such a cut-off, though the police statement does not say so.

The RDA’s early read

Separately, Road Development Authority Director General Anuradha Hettiarachchi said casualties in expressway crashes have fallen since the rule took effect.

He pointed to the multi-vehicle pile-up between the Galanigama and Dodangoda interchanges on the Southern Expressway, in which ten people were taken to hospital, arguing the casualty count was held down because passengers were belted.

Hettiarachchi said expressway crashes have risen in recent days because of the wet weather, and named speeding, poor lane discipline and following too closely as the main causes. He also said vehicles that are not roadworthy have been seen entering expressways.

The RDA gave no accident or casualty numbers to support the claim of a decline, and no comparison period. Both reports come from Daily Mirror; no other verified newsroom carried either statement.

Update, September 23 — the age threshold, and the gazette behind it

Hiru News carried its own account of the clarification a day later, and it answers the first of the two questions left open above.

The exemption for children applies to children under twelve. That is the figure the police statement reported on September 22 did not give, and it sits alongside the same four-and-a-half-foot height threshold.

Hiru also identifies the instrument: a gazette notification issued on 25 June 2025. That date matters, because it places the carve-outs more than a year before the expressway rule took effect on 18 September 2026. The exemptions are not a concession introduced for expressways — they are part of the wider seat belt law, and they apply to it.

The engineering rationale is now on the record rather than inferred. For passengers of shorter stature, Hiru reports, an adult belt sits across the neck instead of crossing the chest and hips, and in a sudden stop or collision the misplaced strap becomes an injury risk in itself.

Police are not treating the exemption as permission to travel unrestrained. Drivers and guardians are being advised to fit proper alternatives, such as specially designed lap belts, for passengers who fall outside the standard requirement.

Two points still stand unresolved. Hiru makes no mention of the medical exemption Daily Mirror reported, and neither outlet says what documentation a medically exempt passenger is expected to carry. The outlets also differ on the officer’s initials — Daily Mirror gives the Traffic DIG as W.P.J. Senadheera, Hiru as U.P.J. Senadheera.

Update, September 30 — the first enforcement numbers

Police say more than 2,000 people have been fined for seat belt violations on expressways, NewsFirst reported — the first published tally since enforcement began on 18 September.

Within that total, NewsFirst reports that nearly 1,000 were passengers fined for not wearing a belt in vehicles that were fitted with them. The broadcaster’s wording does not make clear whether that figure is a subset of the 2,000 or additional to it; read as a subset, it would mean roughly half the penalties fell on passengers rather than drivers.

The Expressway Transport Safety Division said vehicles are being checked continuously at every entry and exit point, and that no vehicle without functional seat belts fitted will be allowed onto an expressway at all. Passenger transport buses are to receive particular attention.

Neither the enforcement period covered by the 2,000 figure nor a breakdown by expressway was given.