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| Kathmandu, Friday December 20, 2002 Paush 05, 2059. |
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Efforts on to ease traffic
congestion
By Pragya Koirala
KATHMANDU, Dec 19:In 1992 it took Santosh half
an hour to reach the nearby school. Ten years later when he returned to Kathmandu after
his studies abroad, he was both appalled and amazed to note the chaotic traffic conditions
of the capital city.
"The traffic conditions and traffic
management in Kathmandu is among the worst I have encountered", says Santosh.
According to Surendra Pal, Senior Superintendent
of Police, Valley Traffic Police, there are several reasons for traffic congestion. He
says, "The condition of the roads in the Valley has been worsened with the growing
number of vehicles. Others would be the lack of knowledge among the pedestrians and
cyclists, no proper lane discipline and no destined public stops for the vehicles."
He further says that all these problems make the
movement of vehicles slower, which in turn leads to accumulation of a large number of
vehicles at strategic points, further aggravating the problem of congestion.
The frequent accidents that occur on the roads
also cause traffic jams. The main causes of accidents are poor condition of vehicles,
reckless driving, specially among motorbike riders and mechanical failure of vehicles. The
best way to overcome this is through careful driving, servicing of vehicles at regular
intervals and proper knowledge of driving.
Recently, various traffic rules have been
introduced in order to minimise accidents. A new rule, not yet implemented says that a
motorcycle pillion rider has to wear helmet, also both the driver and passengers in
four-wheeled vehicles have to wear safety belts.
The fact is that the number of vehicles entering
Nepal has been growing at an alarming rate. In 2000 itself, there were 2,59,400 number of
vehicles, which increased to 3,00,395 after a year. By 2002 the number reached 3,54,955.
In Bagmati zone alone, there are 2,17,085 vehicles whereas there is only 1319 km of road.
The newly installed traffic lights have been
helping quite a bit. The traffic lights installed by a Japanese company OBYASI have given
the traffic police more time to act. Previously, they had to manage traffic manually,
which proved to be a tough proposition especially during office hours. Yet, the lights are
not enough. There needs to be sixty-three lights in the valley but there are only ten
among which two are under construction.
The government has been doing a lot to manage
the traffic congestion and pollution. According to law, vehicles more than 20 years old
are not allowed to ply in the valley. However, this law has been very difficult to
implement, as the public, especially vehicle owners do not co-operate.
Also, people park their cars in the no parking
areas and stop the vehicles wherever they like, even when there is a big "NO
Parking" sign. Traffic police has been taking action against such people, but drivers
don’t seem to be learning from their mistakes and they commit the same mistakes.
People say that they are not aware of the new
rules and regulations and have no idea what the signs in the pamphlets mean. Some say that
they are new in the valley, so have no idea of the rules while using the streets.
According to SSP Pal, for these people the
traffic police has been organising Traffic Day on weekly basis where they teach people
about various traffic rules and make them aware of the precautions they can take while
using the streets. Traffic Week, celebrated on a yearly basis, is also an awareness
programme for the general public.
Traffic police say that they have been doing
their best to manage traffic in the valley and to reduce vehicular congestion, but say
that if the number of cars entering the valley continues to increase and people do not
co-operate, the problem of congestion could never be solved.
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