BUTWAL, Jan 1: On December 16, two youths tragically lost their lives in a collision with a tipper at Jharbaira Chowk on the Ghorahi-Tulsipur road section in Dang. Bishal GC, 17, and Sagar KC, 18, from Jhimru Rural Municipality, Pyuthan, riding a motorcycle, were struck by a speeding tipper during the night. Police investigation revealed that the main cause of the accident was overspeeding. The tipper driver, Ishwar Budha, 26, has been apprehended by the police.
On December 15, a policeman was killed, and one was injured in a collision with a Bolero jeep in Kohalpur, Banke. Policeman Bishal Oli and assistant head constable of Nepal Police Lal Bahadur Budha, on duty at Madanchowk police station, were hit by a speeding jeep.
Policeman Oli succumbed to injuries, while seriously injured Budha is still undergoing treatment. The jeep driver involved in the incident, Arjun Basnet, 20, is in police custody.
Damodar Nepali, a ward member of Mallarani-3, lost his life when a Scorpio carrying people crashed in Airawati Rural Municipality, Pyuthan, on December 14. Other pedestrians were injured.
On December 2, two people were killed when a school bus collided with a motorcycle on a Gramin Sadak in Lumbini, Rupandehi. One person was seriously injured.
Mohammad Irsad, 21, and Ruksana Khatun, of Lumbini Sanskritik Municipality, were killed when a bus belonging to Siddhartha Pratibha Boarding School collided with their motorcycle.
When will it end?
On November 20, cooperative campaigner Madhav Lal Devkota and Yada Chhetri, riding a motorcycle, were killed when a truck hit their motorcycle on the Drivertole, Butwal-Bhairahawa 6-lane road.
Such road accidents and their severity are a daily occurrence in the Lumbini region, indicating a rising trend. Despite various campaigns to reduce accidents, their frequency has not diminished. According to police data, there are more than four vehicle accidents per day in this province, resulting in one fatality daily. In the last five months, 33 people lost their lives in Lumbini every 30 days, and five passengers reached the hospital with injuries each day. The data paints a grim picture of the mental and financial toll on the families of the deceased and the injured.
According to the Nepal Police Highway Safety and Traffic Management Lumbini Province Office in Butwal, there have been 683 vehicle accidents in Lumbini Province in the first five months of the current fiscal year (mid-July to mid-December), resulting in 168 fatalities and 725 injuries. Among the injured, 455 people sustained serious injuries. The accidents have also caused property damage worth millions of rupees.
In the last fiscal year, 462 people lost their lives in 1,020 vehicle accidents in the region. Rupandehi, Dang, and Kapilvastu are the districts with the highest number of accidents.
Traffic police without adequate equipment
Superintendent of Police (SP) Krishna Prasai, chief of the Highway Safety and Traffic Management Lumbini Provincial Office, Butwal, mentioned that despite traffic police being active in creating public awareness for accident prevention, investigating and taking action against rule violators, they have not been as successful as expected due to the lack of the required equipment.
Traffic police occasionally conduct checks with radar guns and breathalyzers for drunk driving checks. However, the tools required to make these tests effective and regular are insufficient.
Lumbini Province Traffic has only two radar guns to measure vehicle speed. These two radar guns must be transported to areas with increased accidents among the 12 districts. Given the busy roads, such as the east-west, north-south, postal-highway, trade route, covering all 12 districts with two radar guns poses a significant challenge.
SP Prasai stated, "We don't even have enough tools to cover many districts, and the coverage becomes even more challenging with only two radar guns."
Motorcycle accidents
Motorcycle accidents are the most prevalent ones in the province, with 414 motorcycle accidents reported in the last five months. Police investigations reveal that motorcycles, trucks, and tippers driven by young people are more commonly involved in accidents.
In the same period, 51 jeeps, 48 buses, 32 trucks and tankers, 32 tractors, 55 bicycles and small vehicles, 23 Tempos, 12 Micros, and 10 tippers were involved in accidents.
Police investigations suggest that the primary cause of accidents is driver negligence and high speed. SP Prasai mentioned, "Accidents are caused due to driver negligence, such as speeding, overtaking from the wrong side, violation of traffic rules, drunkenness, and drug use."
He added that uneven roads, stray cattle, mechanical issues, haphazard parking, increasing traffic, and lax license distribution processes have also contributed to the heightened risk of accidents.
Accidents are also increasing on both wide and level roads and inner roads with lower traffic.
