Kathmandu. Drawing attention to the fact that more than 2,000 people die every year due to road accidents in Nepal, the stakeholders have said that collective efforts of all are necessary to reduce it.
South
Asia Partnership Nepal (SAP Nepal) and Nepal Road Safety Society jointly
organized an interaction programme on "Road Safety Situation and
Challenges in Nepal".
Road
safety expert Saroj Pradhan said that 1.3 million people are lost to road
accidents every year in the world.
Giving
examples of vehicles colliding somewhere or the other while travelling from
Kathmandu to Pathlaiya, he said that it has become a common sight for us to see
the vehicle falling from the cliff, calling divers from Bangladesh and
searching for them.
"In
such a situation, we are not equipped with technology and capabilities. We do
not have the capacity and technology to go to such an accident site, how to
rescue an emergency. As a result, people who can survive the accident have to
lose their lives.”
According
to him, 24,537 road accidents took place in 2022 and 2,883 people lost their
lives due to road accidents.
Deputy
Inspector General of Police Mira Chaudhary, DEPUTY Inspector General of Police
at The Kathmandu Valley Traffic Office, said, "We expect to reduce the
number of accidents by seven per cent if the environment continues to work as
we have been working in the recent past."
This
year, 33,787 drunk drivers, 51 drug-borne public vehicles, 24,161
over-speeding, lane discipline 17,217, disorderly parking 64,000 and 9,228
people not showing number plates have been booked, she said.
Speed
detection has been brought into operation at seven places as the main cause of
the accident is high speed, he said, adding that measurement tests are being
carried out at 47 places.
Executive
Director of South Asia Partnership Nepal (SAP Nepal) Narendra Prasad Joshi said
that many road accidents take place due to negligence in compliance with
traffic rules, lack of effective implementation of laws, road condition,
uncontrolled urban development and lack of civic awareness.
Secretary
of Nepal Road Safety Society Saroj Khanal said that the concerned parties have
not paid much attention to reduce human error in road accidents.
Sap
Nepal President Geeta Bhattarai, Federation of Truck Entrepreneurs General
Secretary Rajendra Bikram Vania, NADA Secretary Bikram Singhania, Lalitpur
Metropolitan City Senior Engineer Ram Lakhan Shah, B&B Hospital's Dr Satish
Waduwal, among others, spoke on the occasion.