Kathmandu Pushpa Kherawar, 10, daughter of Mithu Kherawar of Sripur-2, was killed after being hit by a passenger bus at Haripur VDC-1 in Sunsari district on April 29. According to the Sunsari Police Office, the bus was heading to Dhangadhi from Biratnagar. A pedestrian who was identified as Sandeep Bhusal, 21 was hit by a jeep at Maurighat of Lalmatiya-5 along the East-West highway on April 28.  Bhusal sustained serious injuries and died on the way to the hospital, according to Dang Police Office. The jeep en route to Ghorahi of Dang from Butwal hit Bhusal at 9:30 pm. The above two are just a couple of the thousands of road accidents that happen on our roads everyday. Causes of accidents A report provided by the Metropolitan Traffic Police Division shows that most accidents have happened due to the negligence of drivers. The data of the fiscal year 2015/16 shows that 3,038 cases of accidents occurred due to the driver’s fault. In the report encompassing the fiscal years 2011 to 2016, driver’s negligence has topped the reasons behind road accidents. It is followed by over-speeding, though the number of accidents due to over-speeding has reduced in 2015 as compared to 2014 (accident cases due to over-speeding were 81 in 2015 and 156 in 2014). The third reason is driving under the influence, while technical error, overtaking from the wrong side, pedestrian’s negligence; vandalism and other causes are placed fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth respectively. The five fiscal years — 2011/12, 2012/13, 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16 — recorded 5,096, 4,770, 4,672, 4,999 and 3,282 — road accidents respectively. The number of deaths in these years due to road accidents is recorded as 148, 148, 143, 133 and 107 respectively. Pointing to the main reasons behind road accidents, Traffic Police Division’s Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Rajendra Prasad Bhatta says, “Accidents have mostly occurred due to drivers not following traffic rules. Drivers capture lanes and drive under the influence.” The report also states that mostly motorcycles and scooters are involved in road accidents. In 2015/16, 2,249 motorcycles and scooters were involved in accidents. “Mostly motorcycle riders try to overtake from the left side and not line up, and try to overtake even when they find small space”, DSP Bhatta states. However, motorcycle riders look at it differently. Bishowraj Bista, 27, from Balkot believes, “Too much traffic jam makes us speed up as we get late for office.” Another rider Bhasanta Sharma, 35, from Thapagaun says, “Youngsters enjoy speed and take life too lightly. However, I think we shouldn’t forget that rules are made for our safety.” While riding scooter, women have to face other problems too. Kalpana Baniya, 32, from Samakhushi, shares her story, “I was riding a scooty and as a new rider, I was riding slowly. Suddenly a bike came from the back and honked loudly. I was so scared, I lost my balance and fell down. The man gave me a mocking smile and was gone.  Not only driving up safely and being confident is enough — to face such harassment is the real challenge for us as a woman.” Ritu Pandey, 21, from Sitapaila has the same story. “On the roads, I don’t have only the challenge to follow traffic rules but also drive safely along with microbuses and bikes that come up to push by encroaching our lane.” It is also seen that in most road accidents, pedestrians are mostly the victims than vehicles users. Data shows that in the fiscal year 2015/16, 39 pedestrians lost their lives in road accidents. Not following traffic rules, avoiding overhead bridges, crossing the roads as one wishes, and not taking precaution while walking on the road are some causes for such accidents. Bad Infrastructure Nepal has more than 3,000 villages. Most of the roads are not paved and the case is worse in the hilly regions. A few buses that ply there are overcrowded with passengers. And according to a World Heatlh Organisation (WHO) report, Nepal’s highways are one of the most dangerous in the world. The 2013 report says fatalities per 100,000 vehicles per year is 1,677 in Nepal. Afghanistan has 1,448, whereas India, China, and Japan have 100, 36, and 7 respectively.  This means that one person died in every five accidents in Nepal in 2015, whereas the figure for Japan is one death in every 150 accidents. Poor road conditions, slippery, narrow mountain roads, landslides, overcrowded vehicles, carelessness and driving under the influence add to the reasons behind road accidents, while DSP Bhatta says that carelessness of pedestrians is also a prime cause of highway accidents. The other reason, he believes, is over-speeding of vehicles. Besides that, drivers want to overtake and speed up but meet with an accident on the narrow roads. And many innocent people lose their lives. In this fiscal year (from June 30, 2015 to March 13), 162 people were seriously injured in road accidents, while 2,401 suffered minor injuries. The data also shows that more males lost their lives as compared to females in road accidents. In the fiscal year 2015/16, 17 females and 90 males died in road accidents throughout the country. Number of vehicles The other reason for the big number of traffic accidents is the number of vehicles that is increasing day by day. According to the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, there were a total of 1,755,821 vehicles registered till the end of fiscal year 2013/14. In the year 2012/13, 208,000 new vehicles were added. In this fiscal year (till March 13) 198,000 new vehicles have already been registered. If this pattern continues, then 200,000 vehicles will be added by the end of this fiscal year (2015/16). Rules and Regulations According to the Motor Vehicle and Transport Management Act, 1993, those violating traffic rules and regulations and causing death can be penalised Rs 100,000 to Rs 500,000 according to cases. DSP Bhatta informs, “There should be passenger insurance, vehicle staff insurance, and third party insurance.” Insurance is compulsory for both private and public vehicles. In case of an accident involving a public vehicle, damages will be paid via their committee and vehicle insurance company. If an accident happens due to the negligence of the driver, s/he will have to serve a jail sentence. But if an accident happens, but there is no fault of the driver, then s/he will be released after paying a fine. The government has increased the fine for violation of traffic rules through amendment to Section 164 of Act 1993, which has come to effect from May 14. Now, if anybody is caught violating the rules, s/he will be fined a minimum Rs 500 and maximum Rs 1,500. Earlier, the fine for traffic violation was Rs 25 to Rs 200.  Similarly, the maximum fine imposed by traffic police so far was Rs 1,000 — for drunk driving. The Metropolitan Traffic Police Division has been holding awareness programmes and campaigns to reduce the number of accidents and casualties. Capital’s case Kathmandu and its traffic is a headache for anyone who lives here. According to the Metropolitan Traffic Police Division report, 2011/12 recorded the highest number of accidents (5,069). Fiscal years 2009/10, 2010/11 and 2012/13 recorded 4,770, 4,104, and 4,914 accident cases respectively. The number of deaths due to road accident in fiscal years 2011/12, and 2012/13 was 148 in each year. The least number of deaths due to road accidents was 137 in fiscal year 2008/09. Likewise, fiscal year 2012/13 recorded that the maximum number of accidents occurred in the month of May-June (10.34 per cent), while July-August (5.15 per cent) had the minimum number of accidents.