by Rivindu Samadhith Perera
Published on Ceylon Today on 02nd April 2024.
Sri Lanka’s working hours have been consistent for most of history, which has led to a sizable proportion of the population entering roads at the same time. This is a recurring scenario. Effective mobility is vital to ensure national security aspects, but the congestion of vehicles has led to chaos in the morning and the afternoon, specifically in the cities, which is of concern and it is safe to assume that urban cities in Sri Lanka, specifically Colombo, have a lot to lose in terms of economic, social, health and environmental security, with key challenges on national security. Flyovers have been built, main roads have been expanded, but at what cost? The issue of Peak time traffic is a global concern with zero exceptions in Sri Lanka and even though it stalls vehicles, it is still a running issue.
Underlying concerns
One may ask whether traffic is a reason for concern apart from getting late to attend your work. When there is a theory termed, ‘Law of peak-hour traffic congestion’ published in 1962, by US researcher Anthony Downs , the concern is clear. The rapid increase of population that comes to the city has led to an increase in the use of personal vehicles. In both recent and historic times, Colombo specifically has been infected with a plague of traffic, with almost 200,000 vehicles entering the city daily, according to Senior Scientist Sarath Premasiri, at the National Building Research Organisation (NBRO) and for a country that is geographically smaller in size, this figure could be sarcastic with a considerable increase of the country’s population, road and vehicle density. Therefore, it is wise to investigate both direct and indirect negative impacts due to peak-time traffic in the city on economic, social, environmental and health as bodies of national security.
Time is the most important entity that is lost, which causes a resounding slump on the entire economy, and this setback is largely long-term looking. Practically looking, more vehicles on the road burning fuel leads to an increase in fuel consumption and becomes a reason for the vehicle to perform low on efficiency. The wastage of fuel, being an import, leads to an additional burden on the consumer and indirectly affects Sri Lanka’s foreign currency reserves and negatively impacts the country’s economy when considered on scale. Moreover, businesses in logistics and transport sectors therefore will have to increase costs of operation burdening the consumer, resulting in massive delays in completing tasks of supply leading to inefficiency.
At a time where the tourism industry is finally back on a high, peak time traffic, specifically in the city can lead to tourists being given a negative experience due to the inconvenience caused. A 2023 article, based on Antalya in Turkey, one of the top five tourist destinations in the world, with more than 15 million tourists a year, suggests that a majority of tourists complain of the continued traffic in the city, which depletes the affection, engagement and perception of tourists regarding the city, resulting in a loss of positive activity in the tourism sector with public image in disarray. This indicates a similar barrier for Sri Lanka to retain and reap the maximum economic benefits from the booming tourism industry with an ambitious target this year.
More congestion of vehicles during peak time traffic leads to more carbon emissions and an intensifies unhealthy greenhouse gases, while also depleting the scarce natural resource of fuel, which could be severe in the long-run, the environment is at risk and it directly negatively affects environmental security. This has a major impact on the air, creating air quality issues such as photochemical smog and acid rain. According to IQAir in early 2024, almost 70 per cent of Colombo’s air pollution comes from emissions from vehicles and it therefore could be considered an alarming public health concern, resulting in unhealthy conditions in the Air Quality Index (AQI). In the long run, exposed to these emissions, this issue could lead to an increase in respiratory diseases, cardio-related diseases and even more serious complications like cancer. More vehicles on the road in peak -time traffic, further takes a toll on the economy with consequences that will take place in the long term.
The loss of effective productivity due to traffic is uncountable. A serious delay in the time that one takes to travel affects entire organisations. Nuwan I. Senaratna’s practical discovery on Colombo’s traffic, in a web article, shows the high toll submerging ‘time’ due to traffic. For example, you might take three hours of travel time to get to work and get home from work which could have been a thirty-minute commute and considering you go to work two hundred days a year, you will be spending at least six hundred hours (around twenty-five full days) on the road in traffic. The balance between working and life is directly impacted here, on a negative scale.
“The time that is lost could have been used on a worthwhile activity or at least to spend time with family and loved ones. The psychological effect on people due to long traffic further escalates to frustrations and negative mental health, where morning traffic can influence the entire work of the day and act as a chain reaction, with lost motivation and engagement, which once again at scale negatively affects the entire nation based on the security of human and social capital.”
People appreciate getting to work and getting home at least a minute early. Aggressiveness, along with recklessness is a human instinct in such situations, which due to peak-time traffic will lead to more accidents. According to a World Bank Article, in 2021, which analyses data that is available, Sri Lanka faces almost 38,000 road traffic accidents annually. This has led to almost 8,000 serious injuries and resulted in quarter of the country’s deaths annually. The Asian Development Bank, in an early 2024 blog article, identifies that Sri Lanka has spent at least 4.9% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on costs related to road traffic accidents. A series of Epidemiological Reports in February 2024, by the Ministry of Health, that focus on road traffic accidents, shows that they are among the top ten causes of death in the country, and with disabilities added peaks in the top five of diseases. Since accidents cause people both long and short physical and psychological disabilities, treating those seriously injured will take a lot of time, with the process becoming a burden on the entire system of healthcare financially and with resources, that could have been prevented. Road accidents further lead to a loss of property which increases the negative economic impact, with its implications on damaged vehicles and both public and private infrastructures. This hits back on the security of health, which also affects the productivity and economic security of the country.
Peak time traffic could make people’s security directly vulnerable on a national scale. Potential emergencies that could occur on the road are not limited to road-rage and could even be terrorist activities. Theft is highly common during peak hours. Reports compiled during the recent economic crisis and restrictions show a surge in vehicle theft, which are mostly three-wheelers and motorbikes. The threat to national security in this regard is evident.
Solutions to consider
It would be wise to think of long-term and short-term solutions to tackle traffic. One might come up with the construction of roadways, bridges and other infrastructure to tackle road traffic, but at what cost? Colombo has seen this in more recent times, with older roads being reconstructed and expanded with more lanes. A 2023 research article by Volker, Jamey and Handy, Susan shows that expanding roads only worsens traffic, which has been technically coined as ‘the induced travel effect’. It could be one reason for Colombo’s traffic to keep growing despite wide lanes being built. Enrique Peñalosa once said, “Trying to solve traffic problems by building more roads is like putting out a fire with gasoline.” Constructing infrastructure is wise, but solely depending on it is unwise. Short-term implementations such as carpooling and similar ridesharing could be a distant ideology due to the complications that could arise in performance and practicality.
The ideal and the primary solution that will help solve the issue of traffic and the threats arising out of it would be to enhance public transport mediums. Proposed projects like the Light Rail Transit system (LRT) are far ahead of reality in a country which once had electric tramcars in operation. Another mid-term solution would be to enhance the use and purchase of electric vehicles, that would help reduce carbon emissions specifically during peak time traffic. Along with this addition, the conditions of public buses and trains come with issues such as overcrowding, uncleanliness, service strikes and tardiness in travel time would need to drastically be improved to gain supplementary traction of the public.
This once again is a widely discussed topic, but to no avail. The mindset of people must also be addressed for them to shift from private vehicle use to public transport in peak-times, which will take a long time, subject to positive changes. The importance of preparing reliable services through public transport and working towards making it efficient both in the short and long run could result in less traffic congestion, which will help reduce problems accordingly.
Peak-time traffic is a recurring issue. It has made a significant impact, mostly negative in many aspects with regards to national security. Looking back, this severe impact comes down to economic fragility in the entire country and is a weighty threat to economic security. This makes it important to make swift changes on a national scale that are practical and efficient, to flatten this issue.
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* Mr. Rivindu Samadhith Perera is an Intern (Research)at the Institute of National Security Studies (INSS), the premier think tank on National Security established and functioning under the Ministry of Defence. The opinion expressed are his own and not necessarily reflective of the institute or the Ministry of Defence.