Western region witnessing rise in number of road accidents

Number of accidents is on the rise, but death toll has decreased

Pokhara, October 9

The number of road accidents have increased in various 16 districts of the western region.

Western Regional Police Office, Pokhara, said the number of deaths in accidents, however, has decreased as compared to previous years.

DIG Pankaj Shrestha said 1,827 accidents were recorded in fiscal year 2070/71, while the number of accidents rose to 2,488 in the year 2071/72.

Police records show that though there has been an increase in road accidents, the number of deaths have decreased.

According to the police, 502 people were killed in accidents in the fiscal year 2070/71, while only 456 deaths were recorded in 2071/72.

Police said that death rate in accidents has decreased as the injured were immediately rushed to hospitals. However, the number of people injured in road accidents have increased. As many as 3,538 persons were injured in road accidents in the fiscal year 2071/72. In the previous fiscal year, only 2,621 were injured in road accidents.

DIG Shrestha said that 330 males, 89 females, 27 male children and 10 female children died last year in various road accidents. He said sorry condition of the roads and negligence of the driver had caused most of these accidents. He stressed on the need for raising public awareness to minimise road accidents.

It is said that most of the accidents involve motorcycles. As many as 1,125 accidents last year involved motorcycles.

Similarly, as many as 300 buses, 286 trucks, 392 cars, vans and jeeps had met with accidents the same year.