Kathmandu, February 28

Traffic police have adopted new measures to improve road safety and reduce accidents along Koteshwor-Suryabinayak road section.

Metropolitan Traffic Police Division said separate lanes were designated for particular types of vehicles along the six-lane road. As per the new rules which came into effect from yesterday, three left lanes have been designated for commuter buses, trucks/tippers/lorries and tractors. Motorcycles, light and private vehicles will have to ply along the right lanes.

MTPD In-charge SSP Bhim Prasad Dhakal, said the new rules would be strictly implemented to uphold lane discipline, reduce road accidents and ease traffic congestion along the road stretch.  According to MTPD, the 7-km road section records an average of 200 accidents and two deaths a month. At least 74 vehicles, both two-wheelers and four-wheelers, pass through the road section every minute.

SP Jeevan Kumar Shrestha, MTPD spokesperson, said rampant violation of lane discipline was one of key reasons behind increasing number of accidents on the road section. “Drivers and riders rarely take needful precautions and use signals while changing the lane to overtaking a vehicle. A small negligence could cost a life,” he said. The Koteshwor-Suryabinayak road leads to eastern region of Nepal through Dhulikhel, Sindhuli and Bardibas.

MTPD has conducted awareness-raising programmes urging riders, motorists and pedestrians to abide by traffic rules. Maximum speed limit along the stretch is 50 km per hour. Traffic cops armed with laser radar guns have been deployed along the road to check overspeeding vehicles and nab the offenders.

The equipment can measure the speed of a vehicle from distance of 300 meters. It also take still and video images of the vehicle in question. Each traffic rule violator is slapped with a fine of Rs 500.

MTPD said it was using speed guns along the road stretch which is more vulnerable to road accident due to overspeeding. Most of the victims are pedestrians and riders. Statistics provided by the Department Transport Management showed that over 3.2 million vehicles ply across the country and of them, about 1.1 million are based in Kathmandu valley. Drunk driving, speeding, overtaking from the wrong side and violating lane discipline are some of the major reasons of road accidents.

According to MTPD, 254 persons were killed in road accidents in the valley in 2018-19 compared to 219 in the previous fiscal.