Colombo: Sri Lanka yesterday tightened the rules governing the around one million tuk-tuks -- rickety three-wheel taxis -- on its streets after road traffic accidents claimed a record 3,000 lives last year.
The transport ministry said all tuk-tuks must now have head and tail lights, and made it an offence for drivers to smoke while carrying passengers. All three-wheelers will also have to be fitted with fare meters and issue receipts to passengers, it said in a notice in the country's official gazette.
The transport ministry also made it mandatory for the ubiquitous tuk-tuks to have electrically operated windscreen wipers and cabin lights. Police estimate that 3,000 people died on Sri Lanka's roads last year and about 15 percent of those were tuk-tuk passengers. Another 100,000 people are seriously wounded in traffic accidents each year in Sri Lanka.
Last month, the government announced raising the minimum traffic fines from about 500 rupees ($3.3) to 25,000 rupees ($166) in a bid to make Sri Lankan roads safer.
