BANEPA, Feb 13: Heavy tippers have emerged as a major concern for the safety of pedestrians in Kavre with the increase in number of accidents involving such vehicles.
Every month, two to five accidents occur in the district due to tippers. Motorcycles and scooters are very much vulnerable accidents involving heavy vehicles. This has compelled a large number of people to face untimely death. Last week, Badri Khadka, 51, of Suryabinayak Municipality-10, Khadkagaun lost his life after being bumped by a tipper with registration number Ba 4 Kha 3326.
A few days ago, pedestrians had staged a protest urging the responsible authority to show concern about their safety. Security personnel had to struggle a lot to control the crowd as the protest turned violent. Inspector Sunil Jung Shah of Area Police Office (APO) was injured after protesters started pelting stones at the police. He lost three of his teeth during the scuffle.
Time card introduced for tippers to minimize road accidents
According to police, high speed of tippers has been a major reason behind most of the accidents. "As the companies are manufacturing tippers with easy functions, heavy duty gear box, and other functions, tipper drivers are found intimidating smaller vehicles in the road," said a driver of Kavre who has 25 years of experience of driving tippers.
As per the details provided by the District Traffic Police Office (DTPO), Kavre, reckless driving by tippers has resulted in 24 accidents in the fiscal year 2018/19. As many as eight persons have lost their lives in these accidents.
"We have time and again requested the tipper drivers to be careful while driving but they keep neglecting us," said Shekhar Jung Malla, inspector at the DTPO, Kavre.
According to the DTPO, the revenue collection has increased by Rs. 8.6 million in the fiscal year 2017/18 in comparison to the fiscal year 2016/17. Tippers have played a vital role in this.
"The fines and compensation collected from tippers has increased the revenue to a great extent," said Malla.
Meanwhile, Bagmati Tipper Management Association (BTMA) stated that the association is very much concerned about the safety of pedestrians and passengers. Earlier, BTMA used to be the only organization which allowed and managed the movement of tippers but now there are several such associations, informed Parakash Kayastha, secretary of BTMA. More than 700 tippers are associated with BTMA alone.
"We allow the drivers to driver tippers only after proper training and verifying their license," said Kyastha, adding, "This has reduced the accidents to some extent and we are making more efforts to reduce the threat completely."
With the objective of bringing down the rate of accidents, DTPO, Kavre is planning to implement 'time card' system. A meeting has been called for next Sunday in Banepa between the administration, local municipality and tipper associations.
