The Record
Message From The President Of The Automobile Association Of Ceylon
(source: 'The Record', Centenary Issue 2004)
A Century of serving the Motorists
100 years ago, a band of enthusiastic motorists, inspired by one Major Harold North, decided to form a motoring club They set about it by convening an inaugural meeting at the Queens Hotel in the city of Kandy, in the hill country,. Thus, The Automobile Club of Ceylon was born.
In 1931, consequent to the club entering into a federation with the Automobile Association of Great Britain, the Automobile Association of Ceylon came into being. In 1932, the Association gained affiliation to the Alliance International ede Tourismein Geneva, Switzerland, which was (and still is) the largest Motoring & Touring Organisation in the world As a result of this affiliation, the Association was empowered to issue International Driving Permits, Carnets de Passages, Triptyques and other foreign travel documents.
In 1957, the Automobile Association of Ceylon joined the Union of Commonwealth Automobile Associations which enabled its members to enjoy 6 months free membership of the Automobile Association of any member country within the Commonwealth of Nations. In the same year, the Automobile Association of Ceylon gained official recognition from the Government of Ceylon and was Incorporated by an Act of Parliament. Historically, there were only 100 members in 1904. This number swelled to almost 15,000 by the year 1960. However,due to the subsequent imposition of a ban on the import of motor vehicles in 1960, there was a decline in membership until 1970. This trend has now been reversed due to the liberalisation of the import policy of the Government. The membership at present is steadily increasing.
We celebrated our Centenary in 2004 and we can reflect on our achievements during the past 100 years with pride. Apart from being always on call 24 hours of the day to our member motorists in distress, we have also made significant contributions by cooperating with Government Departments, Police and NGO's on matters such as Revision of the Motor Traffic Act, Road Safety, State of Highways and Environmental Pollution caused by motor vehicles. In spite of escalating costs, we have endeavoured to keep our membership subscription fees as low as possible to enable the larger section of the motoring public to avail of our services.
I would like to take this opportunity to express our sincere thanks to our members for their loyal support and the numerous Government Departments and the Police for their invaluable assistance in achieving our objectives. In conclusion, I would be failing in my duty, if I did not express my gratitude to all Past Presidents, Vice Presidents, Executive Committees and the entire Staff (past and present) of the Automobile Association, who have contributed in no small measure to our success, during this long and arduous journey. I can confidently say that we are now well geared to face the challenges of the future.
Shanti P. Gunaratne, President, AAC
