January 25: Hundreds of people have been losing their lives due to untimely deaths caused by road accidents in the Kathmandu Valley every year.    
According to the Kathmandu Valley Traffic Police Office, as many as 88 people lost their lives in 5,865 road accidents in the first six months of the current fiscal year. Likewise, 148 people were critically injured and 4,438 persons sustained minor injuries.    
Most of the deceased in the accidents were motorcyclists and pedestrians.

Senior vice-president of the National Federation of Nepal Transport Entrepreneurs Punya Prasad Sitaula said that two-wheelers in the Kathmandu Valley are more prone to accidents. "High speed of motorcycles and scooters and pedestrians rampantly crossing the road have caused the highest number of fatalities in Kathmandu," he said.    
Spokesperson for the Kathmandu Valley Traffic Police Office, Senior Superintendent of Police Rajendra Prasad Bhatta, said that the traffic police have been conducting various awareness programs to reduce the number of vehicle accidents in the Valley.

"We have been tightening the checking of alcohol consumption to reduce accidents. We also ensure that the rules prohibiting vehicles from plying at a speed of more than 50 kilometers per hour to control speeding is followed. Other measures include checking the status of vehicles and whether there are two drivers in long-distance vehicles," he said.

During the last fiscal year, 178 people were killed in a total of 9,683 road accidents in the Kathmandu Valley (Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur districts) as of June 15, 2023, according to the Kathmandu Valley Traffic Police Office.    -- RSS