Wearing seat belts by passengers travelling in buses on expressways to be made mandatory from tomorrow

A gazette notification containing regulations that make it mandatory for passengers travelling in passenger buses, on expressways, to wear seat belts, is scheduled to be issued on 31 August, said Minister of Transport, Highways, Ports and Civil Aviation and Leader of the House, Bimal Rathnayake.

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Minister Rathnayake stated this during a recent meeting of the Ministerial Consultative Committee on Transport, Highways, Ports and Civil Aviation, held in Parliament, under his chairmanship, Parliament sources said yesterday.

Further elaborating, the Minister explained that this initiative is being implemented as a key component of the “Clean Sri Lanka” programme. He also noted that a grace period of approximately three months will be given for the installation of seat belts in school transport buses, office transport services, leisure tour buses, and other passenger buses operating on expressways.

The Minister pointed out that the price of seat belts, which was around Rs. 2,000 previously, has now risen to between Rs. 5,000 and Rs. 7,000. He stressed that this price increase should be monitored by the Consumer Affairs Authority.