Afternoon hours most accident-prone: Report

Kathmandu, August 31

General conception has it that road accidents mainly occur late in the night or in the wee hours.

But a detailed analysis of road accidents carried out by Nepal Police shows that most accidents take place between noon and 6:00 pm.

As many as 816 people were killed and 5,199 others injured, 1,776 critically, in 4,365 road mishaps across the country as of Sunday since mid-April this year.

Of them, the highest 1,828 accidents took place between 12:00 noon and 6:00 pm, followed by 1,232 between 6:00 am and 12:00 noon, 1,084 between 6:00 pm and 12:00 midnight, and 221 between 12:00 midnight and 6:00 am.

The findings attribute most road accidents occurring between 12:00 noon and 6:00 pm to increased vehicular traffic.

“When there are more vehicles on the road, incidents of traffic violation and negligence on the part of drivers increase and this leads to accidents,” said police, laying emphasis on cilvilised driving and compliance of traffic rules.

A total of 3,246 accidents were attributed to negligence of drivers, 578 to speeding, 197 to fault of passengers, 101 to mechanical breakdown, 94 for drink driving, 85 to overtaking from the wrong side, 24 to overload, 18 to poor condition of the roads, 15 to stray animals and 7 to bad weather during the period.

Of the total 7,292 accidents, 2,656 involved motorcycles/ scooters. Similarly, other vehicles involved in accidents were car/jeep/van (2,111), truck/tanker (974), bus (923), non-motorised vehicles (299), tractor (182) and others (7).

Police said 3,445 vehicles were damaged in the accidents. Of the 816 persons killed during period, 569 were men and 151 women.

Similarly, the number of boy and girl children killed in accidents during the period stood at 68 and 28 respectively.