Road fatalities in Kathmandu Valley hit five-year high

July 7, 2016: The Kathmandu Valley has recorded as many as 152 road fatalities during 11 months of the current fiscal.

This surpasses the death tally of the last five fiscals.

A total of 133 people were killed in 2014/15 compared to 143 in 2013/14, 147 in 2012/13 and 148 in 2011/12.

According to a figure maintained by the Metropolitan Traffic Police Division, the Valley witnessed 16 road fatalities in July and August each, 13 in September, eight in October, 15 in November, eight in December and January each, 23 in February, 11 in March, 18 in April and 16 in May during the current fiscal.

Similarly, 3,674 were injured, 255 critically, in as many as 5,064 road accidents during the period.

As many as 4,999 road accidents were reported in 2014/15, 4,672 in 2013/14, 4,770 in 2012/13 and 5,096 in 2011/12. Statistics show that nearly 70 per cent of the total road accidents involved motorcycles.

The road accidents have been attributed to drivers’ negligence and human errors, drink driving, mechanical problems, speeding, rampant overtaking and pedestrians’ faults.

An official at MTPD said though the crackdown on drink driving had helped minimise road accidents and fatalities, the trend still existed among reckless drivers, especially motorcyclists.

Source: http://thehimalayantimes.com/kathmandu/road-fatalities-kathmandu-valley-hit-five-year-high/