Kathmandu, January 18:

Stringent laws should be introduced to punish negligent drivers, who think they can walk free even after knocking people to death, an inspector at the Metropolitan Police Circle, Satdobato, said today.

Beni Silwal, inspector at the Metropolitan Police Circle, Satdobato, said the bandhs and chakkajams staged to protest malpractice on the road often do not work. “Protests should pressure the government to reinforce the law, and amend the law so that the guilty can be brought to justice.” According to him, provision of stringent punishment to the negligent drivers can help control road accidents.

According to a record kept at the Metropolitan Traffic Police Division (MTPD), 1,397 road accidents took place in the valley between April and December 2006 last year. Sixty-eight out of them resulted in deaths.

If the injured dies, seeking compensation, family members of the victim often enforce bandhs and stage chakkajam. But getting compensation is not an easy task. While family members of the victim claim the driver killed the injured to avoid medical expenses; drivers often make an easy escape by paying damages as required by the law.

Following the death of two children in a road accident at Satdobato on January 8, relatives blocked vehicular movement at the Satdobato area for two days. They staged protests, burnt tyres and vandalised vehicles. The protest ended after the owner of the vehicle involved in the accident paid Rs 4 lakh as compensation to the victims’ family. According to the existing law, a driver can be jailed for 10 years if an accident occurs because of his negligence. A driver can be jailed for a year or be made to pay Rs 2,000 as fine to the victim’s side if the accident is unintentional. The offender has to provide Rs 10,000 as funeral expenditure and “basic accident insurance” to the victim’s family.

According to the Metropolitan Police Range, Hanumandhoka, the highest amount of payment made to the victim’s family so far stands at Rs 7 lakh. The amount was paid to the family of Hari Bol Aryal, who died in an accident at Maharajgunj on September 8 last year.

The lowest amount, Rs 17,500, was paid to the family of Kumar Rai, who died while undergoing treatment at a hospital on October 8. Rai was injured in an accident in Balaju.

“The escalating road accidents and traffic chaos are the result of nominal penalty put on the accident,” said former secretary of the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works, Tej Prasad Upadhaya.