If the records at the Metropolitan Police Circle (MPC), Bauddha is anything to go by, over 90 percent of drivers involved in such driving evade jail terms. In the last six months (mid August-February) alone, 11 cases of fatal road accidents were reported in Bauddha area. [break]
Drivers involved in eight of the accidents were released after paying a paltry sum as bail bond. A majority of them paid less than Rs 10,000 to get off the hook. Others paid as low as Rs 3,000.
In just one case involving the bus (Ba 2 Kha 850), in which three pedestrians were killed, driver Gambhir Man Ghising has been sent to judicial custody.
As per the Vehicle and Transport Management Act-1992, drivers are only awarded jail terms if they deliberately kill pedestrians. However, the police often fail to establish drivers´ ill-intent.
“Unless the drivers go mad, they do not kill pedestrians. Even if they do, it is often difficult to establish their ill-intent” argues Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Binod Singh, who heads the Metropolitan Traffic Police Division (MTPD).
However, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Govinda Ram Pariyar, chief of Bauddha MPC, says that over 70 percent cases of accidents occur due to reckless driving, though jaywalkers are equally to be blamed.
The drivers often claim that the breakdown of their vehicles led to accidents. There is also a growing tendency among the public to set such vehicles on fire. “If the vehicle is set ablaze, how can we find out the truth,” says DIG Singh.
In the last six months alone, eight buses of Swayambhu Yatayat Bus (SYB) were set on fire in and around Chabahil area following fatal accidents.
Fearlessly reckless
Transport entrepreneurs themselves admit recklessness of their drivers. According to Shiva Ram Adhikari, secretary of SYB, most drivers do not follow the speed limit. “Almost all drivers tend to overtake vehicles ahead of them irrespective of how narrow and congested the roads are,” says Adhikari.
Easy bail and third party insurance policy have made drivers fearless of the consequences. According to traffic inspector Sita Ram Hachhethu, the drivers are also fearless as the insurance company compensates the victims.
“In the valley, about 20 fatal road accidents occur every month,” he says. “But I have not heard of a single case in which the driver has been awarded a jail sentence.”
A traffic official even claimed that some transport entrepreneurs mobilize hooligans to torch vehicles after accidents so as to wipe out proofs of drivers´ recklessness and claim the insurance money.
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