Not my Week for Traffic Incidents

I usually drop Minoli at work and travel back home past my alma mater (Royal College, Colombo 7). Today was no different. The traffic was a bit worse than usual so I turned into Thurston Road at around 8:45 AM from 5th Lane. Then comes the somewhat disturbing maneuver of crossing 4 lanes of traffic in about 100 yards of road to turn right on to Rajakeeya Mawatha. But I got through that without a problem. I was traveling east. Given the time of day the sun was shining brightly through the trees that cover most of this road and directly into my eyes.

From what I know Rajakeeya mawatha is a one way street (traveling east) - though with the multitude of traffic changes that have been taking place I wouldn't know if something has changed. Just opposite the gate to the Royal College Junior School I spotted an oncoming motor cycle (note this is a one way street)! I was probably doing 40 kmph at the time and I just managed to swerve out of the way. I was even more horrified to see that the rider and passenger were police officers. I pulled over to the side of the road and the motor cycle stopped in the middle of the road. The two officers then rode back to my car and parked alongside. The rider was staring somewhat belligerently at me. I was quite unnerved by the near miss and apologized profusely and indicated that the sun was in my eyes. I was asked where I was traveling to (not an uncommon question when pulled over) and very curtly dismissed with a shake of the head. As a side note I believe I have good vision and that this was no mistake on my part that caused the near accident.

What I would REALLY like to know is - who was at fault here? Were the police officer's on an urgent call of duty and if so shouldn't they have had some flashing lights or at least their headlamp on to warn on-coming traffic that they were traveling in the opposite direction to the road's direction? Also, shouldn't the upholders of the law, whenever possible also be keeper's of the law? Had the officers really been in such a hurry, would they have stopped to resort to the intimidation tactics that I was subjected to?

Our country is on a war footing and I expect nothing more than such actions from the police. However, such actions do not instill any confidence in them. It is a bad reflection on the country to boast of such a force.

Given my negative rant, I must make an attempt to be fair. On Thursday or Friday last week, I was waiting in line at the very location that a suicide bomber attempted to assassinate the brother of the president of Sri Lanka (on my way to drop Minoli at work). I watched with pity as a crippled man propelled himself in a wheelchair east along Flower Road. He was not making much progress. An army officer standing at the location (carrying a lethal looking gun and all its accessories etc) stepped off the pavement (side walk) and helped the man get to the other side unharmed and quickly. I would have gladly stopped my car right there and stepped out and shaken the young army officers hand. Well done young man - you do your country proud by such actions.