Kathmandu witnessed 27,000 road accidents in the last half decade. More often, it’s due to the narrow roads and negligence of Drivers that 783 people were killed and around 2,600 injured in this period.

The data shows the rising number of road accidents and fatalities during the year of 2015/16. This year, 5,668 accidents had occurred so far in which 166 people lost their lives. The statistics from the police records shows the greater number of people into such accidents who use two wheelers like bikes and scooters. 17,700 accidents related to bike and sooty riders took place in the period. In these accidents, 270 people lost their lives. The second most accidents took place among other vehicles such as vans, jeeps and cars.

Youths under risk

The data shows that 425 people belonging to the age group of 17-35 years lost their lives in the accidents. According to the record of metropolitan traffic police Kathmandu, accidents in this age group normally occurred due to over speed. Likewise, 66 people below 16 years and 293 people over 36 years lost their lives. In the total number of death, 617 were males and 173 females.The more male deaths were witnessed in the fiscal year 2015/16 with 130 deaths. Similarly, the more number of female deaths with the figure of 38 deaths was seen in the year 2013/14.

Police remains highly alert and concerned about high prevalence of road accidents among the youths. The former head of the Metropolitan police division DIG Jaya Bahadur Chand said, they still trying their best to suggest the youths for maintaining the traffic safety. Involvement of young drivers is also seen high in the cases of road accidents. In 6 years, 3,492 accidents were directly associated with the drivers belonging to the age group of 21 to 40 years. Likewise, 7,947 accidents were noticed with driver above 41 years and 5,774 accidents linked with below 20 years.

Drivers Negligence

While analyzing data, Most of accidents are attributed to the negligence in part of the drivers. Among 27,000 accidents 23,537 accidents attributed entirely due to drivers' negligence.

According to Traffic police division, the fiscal year 2014/15 saw the highest rate of 4,542 accidents due to negligence of drivers. In the past 6 years, another reason behind the road fatality is high speed of vehicles due to which 274 lost their lives. 962 accidents due to drink and drive, 555 due to mechanical problems, 92 due to overtaking, 148 due to Negligence of pedestrians and 199 others due to other miscellaneous reason like (Narrow road and weather) were seen as some other common causes of road fatalities.

Police is running some programs like awareness classes and accident awareness campaigns but they are not being as effective as they should have been.

More risk for pedestrians

High risk of road mishap is seen among the pedestrians after one involving motorbikes. This data has been confirmed both by the records of accidents inside and outside the valley. In the period of six years, 270 lives were lost in the accidents involving two wheeler riders and 258 pedestrian.

According to Police, pedestrians are more vulnerable to the big vehicles. Lack of proper management and implementation of zebra crossing and overhead bridge by the pedestrians are the major factors responsible for high fatality rate. Furthermore, they are never given priority by public vehicles which are making the situation even pathetic. Lokendra Bahadur Malla , spokesperson at Metropolitan Traffic police said, “Traffic lights are not working properly due to which road fatalities are rising in an unprecedented rate. ”According to world Health organization (WHO), 26 percent road fatalities that directly involve pedestrians and cycle riders take place in the world. Accidents of these natures occur mainly in the middle class and under developed countries.

Motorcycles the deadly of all

The close analysis of the data shows that the first most reason of the accidents is Motorcycle. In the capital city, 40 percent of accidents take place because of motorcycle. Outside the valley, the two wheelers are found to meet with lesser accidents but with more casualties. Narrow roads and rampant big vehicles have been attributed to more human causalities. Another finding is that accidents tend to occur more frequently during day time than during the nights.
The composition of motorcycle is highest with 73.2% among registered vehicles in Kathmandu valley followed by car/ jeep/ van with share of 18.5%. The average annual growth rate of motorcycle is around 17 % per annum with population of motorcycle reaching a million by the end of 2016.

Patanjali Dev Nayar opines that If Government makes the clear laws and show strong commitment for their implementation, then road accidents would come down to a considerable number. Likewise campaigns on road safety and regular examination of public vehicles are necessary to be conducted frequently to control the current rate of road mishaps.