Introducing self-driving cars can reduce road accidents in Sri Lanka.
Road accidents are a major problem in many countries, more so in developing countries
where roads are underdeveloped and poorly maintained. According to a study conducted by the
WHO in 2018 deaths caused by traffic accidents in Sri Lanka was around 3590, which is 2.82%
of the total deaths in the country. Due to road accidents being a global issue, many motor vehicle
manufacturers have introduced autonomous capabilities in their vehicles to prevent accidents or
to reduce the damage to passengers during an accident. With these developments in self-driving
technologies vehicles have become increasingly complex, to a point where they can drive
themselves without human intervention. This essay will discuss the practicality of using selfdriving cars to reduce road accidents in Sri Lanka.
Currently in Sri Lanka there are no proactive measures taken in order to prevent road
accidents, but several reactive measures have been implemented to help people during accidents
in general, these include the emergency ambulance service by the “Suwa Seriya” foundation and
regular traffic police patrols to warn reckless drivers. According to the world bank’s report on
'leadership priorities and initiatives to 2030', Sri Lanka has on average 38,000 crashes per year,
while this may look small compared to other countries, when considering the differences in
population and mortality rate per crash, we as a country are in a dire situation. This clearly
indicates that more proactive measures are required to address the issue of road accidents rather
than simply providing post collision services.
Being a developing country and given the current state of the economy it might look
almost impossible to introduce self-driving cars as a solution to road accidents but let us consider
in detail the effect such a measure would have on the country's economy. Tesla is a well-known
producer of self-driving cars, a base model Tesla Model 3 with the autonomous driving package
would cost around $50,000. Compared to the current bestselling car in Sri Lanka, which is the
Honda Vezel, this is quite an increase from its base price of around $17,000. But with the current
tax policies in the country the actual price a customer pays for a Vezel is around $40,000$45,000. This means that with a 0% tax rate for electric cars A Tesla Model 3 is quite affordable
for middle class Sri Lankans. Of course, this would have a big negative impact on the
government's tax income but considering the number of accidents it can prevent thus reducing
the number of spare part imports and the amount of strain removed from the healthcare sector it
might be a worthy portion to give up.
A fringe benefit of adoption of such a policy would be the interest of clients such as Tesla
to develop the infrastructure in the Country. Tesla currently operates a network of 25,000
superchargers globally. Expanding such a network into Sri Lanka would increase interest in
renewable energy production within the country as well. Sri Lanka already has one of the
cheapest rates for electricity in south Asia, therefore using electric self-driving cars could help
reduce the amount of oil imports as well, while reducing traveling cost for the public. Tesla is
just one example of a brand the country can look into, with the development of technology over
time more competitors would emerge providing better/cheaper models making this transition
more feasible.
It will take a considerable amount of time to make sure all vehicles on road are selfdriving, therefore attention should be paid to how human drivers and self-driving cars react to
each other. Given the fact that self-driving cars are designed to basically follow what a human
would do when driving, while avoiding all possible human errors, it is safe to assume that if
there are no technical glitches or reckless behavior on the part of humans there will not be any
issues. This means that traffic police patrols will have to continue to make sure that human
drivers act responsibly.
In a hypothetical situation where we achieve 100% automation in the transportation
industry, we would have automated buses and other public transport facilities. This would mean
that a single centralized system could monitor all movements of all the vehicles on the road,
meaning buses would follow a strict schedule stopping at each stop for a predetermined period
and trains would work on time. In the event of a crash the said system could automatically
inform emergency services of the nature of the crash and provide the exact location as well.
Also, the system could inform the vehicles on the path of an emergency vehicle such as an
ambulance or a fire engine, making them automatically create a route for the emergency vehicle
to pass through. This could help fire fighters get to fire hazards quicker and patients to reach
hospitals quicker. This would be an indirect way to save lives through the introduction of selfdriving cars.
Yes, initially professional drivers will lose their jobs and there will be some resistance to
the change. But considering the number of accidents they can prevent, the number of lives and
time they can save, both directly and indirectly, self-driving cars are in my opinion a plausible
method of reducing road accidents in Sri Lanka. While also helping the suffering economy to
grow in the long run.