KATHMANDU: Road accidents are rising high in the last few years in the Kathmandu Valley. Rising numbers of road-accidents involving passenger vehicles — both private and public — have made the city roads very dangerous to commute a kind of death-trap so to say.
Private vehicles are more prone to meet with road accidents on valley roads compared to passenger vehicles. Even amongst the private vehicles, two-wheelers frequently meet with accidents on road. There is no guarantee to reach the destination when one comes out on the road, such is the state of uncertainty on city roads nowadays across the Kathmandu Valley.
The probability of getting one’s body deformed or grievously hurt or even losing one’s own life is high on the card if you are commuters or tourists or casual users of the valley roads.
Though several efforts are being made to reduce the road-accidents in Kathmandu Valley, expected results have not been achieved. It is because 200 people on an average have been dying every year in road accidents in the Kathmandu Valley, says the Metropolitan Police head-office.
Increasing numbers of deaths in road-accidents every passing year
Data on road-accidents reveal that as many as 6,381 passenger vehicles – both private and public met with road accidents in the year 2017/18. In the above accidents, a total of 194 people lost their lives, as many as 219 were grievously injured and whopping 4,333 people were met with a simple injury.
The number of road accidents increased next year in 2018/19 as 8,511 passenger vehicles got caught in road-accidents resulting in the death of 254 people. In the same year, not less than 317 people were grievously injured and 5,900 suffered from simple injuries all caused by road-accidents.
There are various cases of injuries – both grievous and simple go unreported every year. Comparative study reveals that deaths in road accidents witnessed the increase by number 60 in year 2018/19 in the Kathmandu Valley.
Previous years, too, show an increasing trend in the number of deaths caused by road accidents compared to last years. In the stretch of the last 8 years from fiscal year 2011/12 to 2018/19, as high as 1,368 people lost their lives in road accidents. In total, every year 7000 passenger vehicles are involved in road accidents, 300 road users are grievously hurt and 4000 people received simple injury as road users in road accidents.
Two-wheelers more in road accidents
Scooters and motorcycles are frequently caught in road accidents. In the year 2075/76, not less than 115 people got killed in road accidents. Apart from two-wheelers, other vehicles too killed people in road accidents. Truck accidents killed 12 people, bicycle 5, Bus 12, micro 1 and car killed 16 people.
If we take the number of pedestrians’ death which stand at 93, then the total number of deaths reach at 254 which is not less from any account to gloss over it. In these accidents, the number of deaths was more in the age-group from 17 to 35, says the Metropolitan Traffic police head-office.
What the Metropolitan Traffic Police has to say
Metropolitan Traffic Police has been conducting road safety awareness programs at different locations in Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur districts. It is something strange – a kind of conundrum that road accidents have not shown any downturn despite an increase in road safety programs.
It further means that the city roads are not in proper conditions for vehicles to ply and absence of pedestrian lanes all around. Two-wheelers are always seen running into pedestrian lanes endangering the lives of children, women and old citizens using the lanes.
Traffic police are nowhere to stop such scooter-ists and motorcyclists who overrun the pedestrians’ lanes with all impunity. Superintendent of Police (SP) Padma Bista says, most of the accidents in the valley are caused by bad conditions of roads. These roads are not motor-worthy.
“It is not just the metropolitan police which is to be blamed for road accidents, other government agencies such as road construction, light safety, and pedestrians’ education need to be streamlined to reduce the accidents in the city,” says Bista adding further, “Road-maintenance is neglected and the government does not ensure the quality of road while constructing the road from the very beginning.”
Drivers, he continued to say, are also not properly trained and found frolicking under the influence of wine while driving the vehicles. “Road-users, too, are expected to be very cautious while crossing the roads and being on the red light. We see a number of cases where vehicles are below the standard in technology use such as break, clutches, silences, steering and so on,” he stated.
Overtake, high speed, stray animals on the road, sudden weather change are other reasons for road accidents.
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