The Sri Lanka Air Force, which has mastered the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles during the humanitarian operations has now embarked on using its expertise to assist the Sri Lanka Police and the Special Task Force in better managing the traffic congestion which has become a consistent issue for commuter who travel to and from Colombo. On the instructions of the Commander of the Air Force, Air Marshal Sudarshana Pathirana, SLAF Drone Operators are continuously working hand in hand with the Sri Lanka Police and the Special Task Force to utilize drones for traffic management.

The use of drones for traffic management would give Police Officers on the streets the following advantages.

•    During rush Hour the use of drones would give an aerial view of the traffic situation. When properly utilized this aerial view would give Police Officers the opportunity to strategically divert excess traffic along alternate routes thus reducing the traffic along main routes.

•    Also, during rush hour accidents are also reported. These accidents aggravate the already congested roads causing delays to commuters on the roads. With the use of drones monitoring traffic can be yet again diverted along alternate routes in order to avoid the route where the accident has occurred.

•    Drones with audio visual capabilities can be utilized to warn traffic law violators then and there. If this is continuously done, the general public will be aware of the aerial monitoring and will resort to driving lawfully. This in time will also reduce traffic in urban city areas.

•    Drone operations can also be utilized to guide Ambulance and even VIP transporting entourage in urban areas such as the city of Colombo. The aerial view provided by drones together with a team of traffic controlling police officers on ground would be able to easily guide an ambulance to an emergency location and to the hospital through routes with less traffic saving time and lives in the process. The same team can be used to guide vehicle entourages transporting local and foreign VIPs efficiently with out causing too much hassle to civilian commuters on the roads.