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Kathmandu Thursday November 29, 2001 Marga 14, 2058.
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Off
the bad streets
In the last few
months, many tragic and gruesome traffic accidents have occurred in and
outside Kathmandu Valley that took the lives of many people. Nevertheless, no effective
measures have been undertaken to prevent road accidents. There are many agencies related
to traffic management, but lack of proper coordination, mutual understanding and awareness
have made matters worse. The public think that all traffic management campaigns should be
done by the traffic police by hook or by crook. For instance, making zebra cross, traffic
lights, traffic signs, road marks, etc. In fact, such work is carried out by Road
Department, Metropolitan, Sub Metropolitan and Municipal authorities. Our duty to regulate
and facilitate traffic flow and generate traffic awareness of preventing road accidents.
It is estimated that
in the valley alone, more than 170,000 vehicles are plying on the road, whereas the
capacity of the road is only for 120,000. Lack of proper parking facilities is the key
problem of traffic management in the valley. Many vehicle drivers are unaware of traffic
rules, or they simply ignore them. This undoubtedly creates traffic havoc.
Vehicle drivers use
alcohol while driving. It is estimated that 52 percent of the vehicles involved in the
accidents are private, and 44 percent are public. Motorcycle is the most accident prone of
all vehicles. More than 35 percent of vehicles involved in casualties were motorcycle,
followed by car (22 percent) and autorikshaws. Surprisingly, more road accidents occur on
Saturday, although incidents of traffic violations are considerably few.
Apil R Bohara
via e-mail |
