Drinking and driving in Nepal are under control for which all credit goes to the traffic police. The rule is nicely implemented and very effective too. After this “No Horn” rule too should be appreciated and rules to cross the street are also very good. However, the Road Department must make road crossing easy and safe. The fine is a bit too high, but we must understand this rule is for our safety. Moreover, all pedestrians are not fully aware of the traffic rules.

In spite of such rules our road is not yet safe. Hasty drivers, mostly the public vehicle drivers, do not follow traffic rules and drive their vehicles very haphazardly. One major thing that drivers have is the protection they are getting from their associations. The traffic police seem helpless in front of their associations. They believe the cost of human life is just a few hundred thousand rupees and that too their association will pay for them and the police department is not successful in taking action against them. The traffic police and laws should be much more powerful than associations. The traffic police should start some mandatory classes to make drivers aware of their social responsibilities. The driving skill tests do not seem enough.  Bikers are creating terror in the roads. The reckless bikers are mostly teenagers. Footpath traders are also major obstacles in the roads. Vendors should get proper places to sell their goods as thousands of vendors are getting their bread and butter from footpaths, and the general public should also stop buying goods parking their vehicles in roads.  It should be managed suitably.

The Melamchi water project is making our roads pathetic. The project is digging the roads which is their compulsion but to reconstruct the roads on time should be highly prioritized. Now the monsoon has started and they are digging the roads and repairing these temporarily, which is very threatening. Now our roads look like fields ready for cultivation and we are going to face many mega sinkholes on the streets this season. Only the traffic police efforts are not enough in such a scenario.

I heartily request VIPs to tell their drivers and security guards to drive vehicles on the lane.  Your driving in the opposite lane is perilous for us.  Blowing the siren in no-horn roads and driving in the opposite lane are not good examples to be set by people who think they are civilized and responsible.  We know your time is valuable but not more than our life.