How Many People Can You Fit In A Trishaw?
Almost capacity.
Until yesterday this was a multiple choice question. In my experience you can definitely fit six (plus driver). So theoretically eight plus. Today, of course, the answer is simple. Three. You can only put three passengers in a trishaw. Or they’ll cop you, for reals.
While there are hilarious times to pile everyone you’re with into a trishaw, it’s obviously unsafe. If you crash it’s just a compressed ball of humanity with a few metal girders like so much twine. And people do die.
Police spokesman Ajith Rohana said this would help minimise road accidents. He said between April 1 and May 7 there had been 27 accidents involving three-wheelers leaving 34 people killed. (Daily Mirror)
Seriously, a toppled trishaw is the most pathetic thing. Like a flipped-over turtle. So I guess this rule is a good thing. Obviously. To be fair, however, you can fit four comfortable abreast in a Piaggio, those noisy shit machines. But I suppose the vertical stacking has to stop.
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Three wheeled vehicles are inherently unstable so even with a single passenger they are more risky than a four wheeled vehicle.
Even two wheels are more stable than three, but there is increased likelihood of getting knocked down.
well this law is months old. It came in to effect after a family (or nearly a family) died in a accident.
But this has came up again after a 3-wheeler on school service was caught with 14 children packed in it.
here is the link but i still can’t visualize how the driver and the children managed to achieved this feat…
http://www.dailymirror.lk/news/18193-trishaw-driver-arrested-for-transporting-14-.html
If safety is the reason they are going to enforce this then buses need to be more strictly regulated as well. Buses packed like a can or sardines is more likely than three wheelers carrying four or more people.
totally agreed. :)
(as person who travels in buses daily)
Piaggio’s are called ‘Share Auto’ in India and seats 8 per trip (sometimes 12 law permitting). I don’t understand how it makes good money seating less than four in Sri Lanka.
My personal best experience is in Dambulla at about 2 in the morning some day in 2000. (A bunch of us had just arrived from Colombo in a bus bound to Polonnaruwa and had to get to the funeral of a batch mate’s grand mother)
The magic number was 14.
Of course, this was a bigger one with two back rows of seats. (form some reason there were several of these in Dambulla at that time) those seated on extreme corners had one leg out and two sat on either side of the driver and held the leg of one seated behind and same for the next row as well. All the girls sat in the middle and off we went. !