Kathmandu, August 19

The lowest number of road fatalities was recorded lowest in the last fiscal 2014-15 in Kathmandu Valley.

A total of 133 people were killed in 2014-15 compared to 143 in 2013-14, 147 in 2012-13, 148 in 2011-12, 171 in 2010-11, 146 in 2009-10, and 137 in 2008-09. However, the number of people who were seriously injured in road accidents witnessed a slight increase last fiscal with 233 injured against 226 in 2013-14. In the year 2012-13, as many as 2,014 people were injured in road accidents and 396 in 2011-12, 553 in 2010-11, 748 in 2009-10, and 720 in 2008-09.

As many as 4,999 road accidents were reported in 2014-15; 4,672 in 2013-14; 4,770 in 2012-13; 5,096 in 2011-12; 4,914 in 2010-11; 4,104 in 2009-10; and 2,765 in 2008-09. According to statistics released by Metropolitan Traffic Police Division, nearly 70 per cent of the total road accidents involved motorcycle riders.

Of the 4,999 road accidents recorded in the Valley during 2014-15, as many as 4,542 were caused due to drivers’ negligence and human errors. Likewise, 151 road accidents were attributed to drunk driving; 131 to mechanical problems; 89 to over speeding, 73 to rampant overtaking; and 13 to pedestrians’ faults.

An official at MTPD said though the crackdown on drunk driving had helped minimise road accidents and fatalities, the trend still existed among reckless drivers, especially motorcyclists.

As many as 32,045 drivers were brought to book for driving under the influence of alcohol during 2014-15.

Pro-active policing, installation of CCTV cameras at major traffic thoroughfares, awareness programmes, and action against unruly drivers have been attributed to gradual decrease in road accidents and fatalities. Traffic police had initiated action against 552,743 unruly drivers last fiscal.

Security officials have been keeping close surveillance on vehicular movement in as many as 262 places of Kathmandu Valley from control rooms of the Metropolitan Police Commissioner’s Office and MTPD through CCTVs.

According to MTPD, the special surveillance mainly aims to catch drivers violating traffic rules, including lane discipline. “If the drivers violate traffic rules merely because traffic cops are not present, the CCTV cameras connected to the control rooms will still be watching them. We will catch them from any place of the Valley,” the official said.

Khusibu, Thamel, Singha Durbar, Tripureshwor, Pradarshani among others have been equipped with CCTV cameras.