Vehicle to road length ratio dismal, says DIGP Chand

Kathmandu, January 9

DIGP Jaya Bahadur Chand, in-charge of Metropolitan Traffic Police Division, today said the Kathmandu Valley was yet to meet the international standard of vehicle to road ratio.

Speaking at an interaction on ‘Traffic Awareness and Environment’ in Dhobighat of Lalitpur, he said, “More than 850,000 vehicles ply the Valley roads. The road network has been extended from 1,319 km in 1995 to 1,596 km in 2015.

It means the concerned authorities have been able to extend road length by only 20 per cent in the past 20 years compared to the current requirement of around 3,000 km as per the population density and growing number of vehicles.”

According to MTPD, traffic police to vehicle ratio is also poor. According to statistics, the current strength of MTPD is 965. This means a traffic cop has to manage around 800 vehicles and cover 1.65 km.

Officials attributed the capital’s worsening road safety to the imbalance in traffic police to vehicle ratio. MTPD has installed more than 200 CCTV cameras in its control room for efficient supervision, regulation and traffic monitoring in Kathmandu to compensate for the shortage of human resources.

This move has helped traffic police regulate vehicular movement and catch unruly drivers, especially during rush hours and VIP movements.

“The traffic police to vehicle ratio was 557:78,243 in 1995 against 965:850,000 in 2016. The number of vehicles has increased by 842 per cent against mere 73 per cent increment in the strength of traffic police during the period,” said a traffic police official.

On normal days, traffic police books an average of 1,000 vehicles each day.