Curb Road Fatalities

Road is an essential public service infrastructure, which facilitates smooth mobility of people and boosts economic development. As one comes out of his/her residence, the road becomes the first stopover to commence a travel towards the given destinations. The smooth surface where vehicles and pedestrians pass through gives us a sense of safety. Road also serves as a primary line of communication and prerequisite for economic development. Any initiative to construct projects start with road building but the very basic lifeline of public traffic has often turned into a site of fatal accidents in Nepal. Blatant disregard for traffic rules, safety discipline and poor conditions of road have led to the road accidents that are rising at alarming rate. What is painful is that more people die in road traffic accidents (RTAs) than natural disasters in the country. The tragic accidents leave many more disabled and orphaned, depriving them of living a meaningful and happy life.   

According to official data, a total of 1,303 persons died and 3,643 were seriously injured in different road accidents in the last seven months. Around seven persons die and 83 get injured on average in road accidents every day. Around 65 traffic road accidents take place daily. Over 80 per cent road accidents involve two-wheelers followed by four-wheel light vehicles such as jeeps and pickup vans. In most cases, pillion riders lose their life in two-wheeler accidents.  Nepal Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) 2022, disclosed that around 14 deaths per 100,000 people take place owing to road accidents, with the loss of around 4,060 lives annually. The number of deaths caused by road mishaps is far higher than that of natural calamities. Around 1,500 persons died, 3,966 sustained injuries and 193 went missing in 13,701 different natural disaster incidents that occurred in the last five years.

Only 25,000 kilometres out of 77,302.68 kilometres of roads fulfil road safety standards in the country. The complex geography and erratic weather often pose difficulty to construct and repair roads in time. Most of the highways and rural roads lie in the hilly region that constitutes 41.7 per cent of the country's total land area. The mountain and Terai regions comprise 35. 2 per cent and 23. 1 per cent of land respectively. The major highways are always in bad condition during the rainy season when floods and landslides, triggered by heavy downpours, damage roads and bridges. If the roads are well-built, fewer fatalities are likely to happen but the technical and engineering criteria are often ignored during the construction and maintenance of roads. There are also lapses in monitoring the standards of vehicles that are bound to mechanical tests every six months and those failing to meet the criteria are banned from plying on the road. Most of the testing centres are dysfunctional while automobiles are certified on the basis of manual inspection.

 The highways have to abide by the engineering parameters but local roads, which fall under the purview of the local governments, are constructed without required technical standards, and understanding of road engineering and slope geology.  However, shabby roads and vehicles alone are not responsible for the road accidents. Over 76 per cent of accidents take place due to the negligence of drivers. Drunk driving is rampant in rural roads. They flout traffic rules and have little understanding of highway signage and basic mechanical knowledge. Drivers should be better trained and laxity in distribution of licence should be curbed. Similarly, effective road safety law should be enacted and enforced to minimise the road accidents.