Kathmandu, August 3

Beware! Halting your vehicles on the zebra crossing may land you in trouble.

The Metropolitan Traffic Police Division has stepped up action against reckless motorists, who stop their vehicles, especially public ones, on zebra crossings.

According to the MTPD, traffic cops reported an average of 20 incidents in which motorists stopped their vehicles on the zebra crossing. Many cases go unreported as on-duty traffic cops are not present everywhere.

The Valley has over 1,000 zebra crossings and some of them are under the surveillance of CCTV cameras as well.

A traffic police official said road accidents had increased to such an extent in the Kathmandu Valley that pedestrians found themselves in danger even when they used zebra crossings to cross busy roads.

Every month at least two persons are killed or injured while using zebra crossing to cross the main roads as well as inner roads in the Valley.

“Zebra crossings that are designed for safety of pedestrians are turning into risky zones of death and injury,” he warned. While traffic police are there to regulate the flow of vehicles near zebra crossings at major intersections, the inner roads of the Valley lack enforcement of traffic rules.

According to the Metropolitan Traffic Police Division, zebra crossing is not a halting point for vehicles and drivers have to respect it and give priority to pedestrians to cross the roads safely. However, pedestrians are also equally responsible for accidents.

They should form a group to cross the roads using zebra crossing.

Drivers involved in road accidents near or on zebra crossings are dealt with seriously. They may be slapped with imprisonment for up to 10 years depending on the gravity of the case as per the existing laws.

The Valley recorded as many as 166 road fatalities in the last fiscal 2015/16 which surpasses the death tally of the previous five fiscals. As much as 40 per cent of 166 persons killed in road crashes in 2015/16 were pedestrians.

It shows how vulnerable the pedestrians are to road accidents.