Nepal has a reverse record of having a lot more deaths than injuries in road accidents. According to World Health Organization (WHO), more than 1.2 million lives are lost and over 50 million people are killed in traffic accidents annually. In Nepal, 1131 people -- an average of 3 people everyday-- were killed in road accidents in 2008. In 2008/09, the capital witnessed 126 road deaths while the number of major injuries in such accidents merely amounted to 10.
The government´s first ever major interaction on the issue entitled “Improving Road Safety in Nepal” will address this scourge. The interaction organized by the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works will involve various stakeholders. The interaction will discuss eight proposed solutions to upgrade road safety in Nepal, according to Tulsi Sitaula, head of the Construction Department at the Ministry. They include, among others, awareness campaigns, law enforcement and upgrading road conditions.
As per the WHO assessment, lost productivity resulting from traffic injuries costs developing countries up to 2 percent of GDP. The scale of the damage wreaked by road deaths is already comparable to Malaria and Tuberculosis. For the 10-24 age groups, they are the single biggest cause of mortality. The WHO projects an 80 percent increase in road deaths by 2020.
Nepal typifies the real trauma of developing countries where children, pedestrians and cyclists represent the vast majority of casualties. The capital is a stark example where traffic infrastructures are in the least designed for cyclists and pedestrians. The road accident figure of the fiscal year 2008/09 shows that motorbikes were the cause of nearly 25 percent of the fatalities. “We can only have a chaos as the number of vehicles has already surpassed the capacity of roads,” said chief of Metropolitan Traffic Division, DIG Binod Singh.
According to Singh, besides the high risk two wheelers are facing, the public transport has equally been prone to fatalities, thanks to inexperienced and reckless driving and violation of lane discipline, among other reasons.
Singh said that easy availability of malfunctioning and unchecked spare parts the vehicle owners tend to use has significantly contributed to rise in road accidents. “The government should not let this happen in the name of competitive market. On the other hand, consumers should be equally aware of the fact," he added.
Nepal had committed to implement measures to reduce road fatalities during its participation in Asia Pacific Ministerial Level Meeting on Road Safety held in South Korea, 2006. The commitment was also reiterated in First Global Conference on Road Safety held in November 19-20, 2009, Moscow, in which Secretary of the Ministry Purna Kadariya represented Nepal.
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