During festivals such as Dashain, Tihar, and Chhath, our nation witnesses a mass exodus as individuals travel in hordes to their hometowns to celebrate the festival with family members. The biggest of all the festivals being Dashain puts millions on the roads across the nation. Buses, jeeps, and microbuses crowd roads with individuals eager to be back with their dear ones. This boom in traveling activity imposes incredible pressure on the transport system, which often reveal poor road and vehicle safety standards that often claim lives.One of the significant reasons behind the increase in accidents is the bad state of most passenger vehicles. At such peak travel periods, demand surges and owners overwork their vehicles. Most buses and jeeps are in a bad state of safety requirements. Mechanical breakdowns are common; and, on mountainous routes, even small accidents can turn fatal. Even the passengers themselves are unaware of dangers of traveling on poorly maintained vehicles. Festive travel also coincides with the rainy season, when erosion and landslides make several highways difficult to travel on.
The Kathmandu-Narayangarh highway, one of the country's vital road links, has recently had several landslides that have closed parts of the road for days. Even on roads that remain open, potholes and flooded stretches pose a risk to drivers, slowing traffic and increasing the chances of accidents. Steep mountain roads with substandard conditions can turn a routine journey into a risky one. Greed of some vehicle operators is another risk factor. During the festive period when the demand is high, they fill as many people as possible in a jeep or bus and fleece them with exorbitant fares. It not just makes the journey full of hassles but also increases the danger of deadly crashes. The additional load weakens the vehicle, making it hard to put on the brakes and maneuver. Mix these with bad roads and rain, and such vehicles are rolling bombs.
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Meanwhile, the majority of drivers drive themselves on long-distance routes, speeding sometimes to recover lost time or to complete multiple trips a day. Tiredness, pressure, and working long hours impair response time and judgment, which in challenging terrain is fatal. In a nation where the enforcement of road safety is more often than not weak, high-risk driving is a chronic problem.
The increase in accidents that occur during festive periods is due to an excess demand for travel, poorly maintained vehicles, bad roads, overloading, and reckless driving, among others. Sadly, while these things are common in Nepal, authorities fail to act effectively on time to ease pressure on Dashain-bound travel. With all of these risks combined, the travel during the festive season is fraught with accidents. Although individuals crave to travel to be with their family members during festivities, the state of the transport system renders such trips more perilous than they ought to be. Urgent action must be taken by authorities, vehicle operators, drivers and even passengers. Basic measures such as putting vehicle maintenance in place, avoiding overloading, and enhancing road safety can save thousands of lives. Without such initiatives, celebrations of festivals that should be joyous risk being overshadowed by grief on the roads.
