NDTV:
Sri Lanka will use artificial intelligence to monitor bus drivers and make seat belts mandatory on public transport, a government minister said on Wednesday, after the country’s worst bus crash in two decades killed 23 people.
The South Asian nation, which records an average of 3,000 road fatalities annually, has some of the most dangerous roads in the world.
Buses are to be equipped with driver monitoring systems from next year, while seat belts will become compulsory on public transport from June, Transport Minister Bimal Rathnayake told reporters in Colombo.
It came after an overcrowded bus carrying dozens of Buddhist pilgrims plummeted into a precipice on Sunday.
The changes are aimed at “educating motorists to develop a better driving culture and improving safety standards”, Rathnayake said.
“We are going to make AI-backed driver observation systems mandatory on all buses from next year, and we will expand them to all long-distance trucks as well.”
The minister said the cause of Sunday’s crash in the tea-growing mountainous region of Kotmale was still being investigated, but that two more passengers had died, raising the toll to 23.
