DHANGADU, August 5

Efforts to reduce road accidents in the far-west region have achieved little or no success.

Traffic police have implemented Refreshment Centre and Time Card system to bring down road accidents. The statistics on accidents, however, prove these efforts have gone in vain.

Data at the far-west regional Traffic Police Office, Attariya, Kailali, showed that the accident rate last fiscal touched a record high compared to the past four years.

The traffic office has concluded that only its efforts will not help.

DSP Dilip Singh Bhandari attributed the sorry state of the road and increasing pressure of vehicles, among others, for the rise in road accidents.

Traffic police said that roads have not been upgraded in accordance with the rise in the number of vehicles. The regional traffic police office said that as many as 147 people were killed in 150 accidents last fiscal while, 378 were injured. In the previous year, death toll from accidents stood at 112 in 126 road accidents while the injured number stood at 239.

In the fiscal 2012/13, 136 people lost their lives to as many as 145 accidents, while the number of injured stood at 361.

Senior civil society member of Doti Dandiraj Ojha said that a probe committee formed immediately after an accident had not submitted its report yet, let alone take further action.

Ojha, reasoned that lack of road repairs in the region had worsened the state of the road. Paved streets and roads have developed small and big cracks and holes, while gravelled roads become muddy during monsoon.

Sunil Babu Pant, engineer at far-western Road Division Office, said that road expansion and repair should be carried out to reduce accidents in the region.