Nearly 55,000 driving licence applicants have been disqualified from receiving driving licences on account of their failure to pass medical tests last year.
According to the National Transport Medical Institute (NTMI), nearly 841,000 applicants had applied for the medical tests last year. Of them, 55,000 applicants had failed since they were suffering from heart diseases, high blood pressure, poor eyesight and diabetes.
Many applicants fail the medical test which is compulsory for drivers to pass to get driving licences, due to their long-term addiction to liquor and other types of narcotics, a senior administrative officer of the NTMI Kurunegala Regional office, Dr. A. Jayasekara, told the Sunday Observer.
He said around 6,700 road accidents that occur annually on the main roads kill 2,300 people including schoolchildren. Motorcyclists who ride under the influence of liquor and other harmful drugs cause the majority of road accidents. About 6,200 police officers have been deployed countrywide to nab drunken drivers, he said.
Jayasekara said the Police had arrested 8,908 people who drove under the influence of narcotic drugs on main roads last year. Most of them had caused fatal road accidents killing even pedestrians, he said.
State Minister of Transport Lasantha Alagiyawanna plans to launch a program to issue permanent driving licences to applicants under a one-day service facility soon.
