On May 3, a bus fell off a cliff on the under-construction Sindhuli-Bardibas Highway, killing 16 people and injuring dozens. We thought that was it. But no. Hours later, another bus veered off a serpentine mountain road in Far-west’s Doti, again, killing 16 people and injuring dozens. In all, 32 people got killed within two days. Aghast, a commoner wrote in his letter to a Nepali-language daily newspaper, "Plane crashes involving richer people would have surely received wider media attention. But does anyone care when buses carrying poor people crash?"
KILLER ROADS
It looks like except those directly involved, nobody cares. A week later, I was preparing to assess the causes of road accidents, and three more got killed as another bus fell off a dirt road linking Rukum with Dang in the Midwest. The same morning, at least one got killed as and at least a dozen others injured when the Kathmandu bound bus’ driver reportedly fell asleep, leaving the bus veering off the relatively safe Prithvi Highway in Dhading.
Every year, hundreds of Nepalis get killed in bus accidents. The routine occurrences leave many children orphaned, many parents childless. As recent patterns show, most of them happen in the country’s meandering hill or mountain highways, roads or dirt roads. Take this. In 2010, nearly 1,800 people--1,776 to be precise--got killed in road accidents around the country, according to official figures. That will put the daily loss of lives on Nepal´s roads at 4.8.
That must be another world record.
That makes the average annual road accident toll slightly higher than the average annual deaths during the ten-year-old Maoist insurgency. That claimed the lives of 17,000 Nepalis according to a revised official count. The situation was no different, if not worse, almost six years ago when I was working from my New Delhi office as a correspondent for a leading Nepali media house.
Day after day, alongside reports of deaths in the internal conflict, news of deadly road accidents on mountain roads claiming the lives of dozens filled the Nepali news websites. Shocked at the recurrences, Delhi´s Nepal observer, Gen. Ashok Mehta would react thus, "It looks like more people get killed in Nepal´s road accidents than in fighting with Maoist insurgents." Hapless, I would say, "That must be true."]
ROAD WORTHINESS
The recurring road accidents continue to leave us shaken and pondering: With road safety standards so pathetic--and so precarious--why did Nepal need the bloody insurgency? For now, that bloody insurgency looks passé. Even then, the big question will remain: Why are Nepal´s roads so prone to deadly accidents?
Why do these accidents keep happening? Where is road safety? Is it the state of roads that are to be blame? Or is it the drivers who are to be blame for their sheer recklessness? Where does the problem lie? As officials monitoring road accidents and safety standards put it, "ill-trained" and "careless" drivers are responsible for the most part.
According to an official version that came out this past week in Nagarik daily, on average, three persons die in road accidents and seven get injured every day. And 73 percent of the accidents happen due to human error, meaning drivers fault; which clearly means Nepal´s drivers need rigorous education and trainings. There was talk of Commercial License for drivers, but that is taking hell of a lot of time.
Even if that is forthcoming what guarantee is there that the license tests will be fair and free of corruption? What guarantee is there that the drivers will be properly educated and trained? Recently, this writer was offered a Driving License of car/jeep/van for Rs 10,000 by a clerk at the Department of Transport Management. That kind of practice must end.
BETTER ROADS
And consider the state of roads. Official figures show 10 million vehicles ply in the country´s road network totaling 10,000 kilometers. Only half of that—5,000 kilometers—is somehow black topped (and a quarter of which needs maintenance). Officials say more than 60 percent of the road network is in dire state and needs maintenance. While the Department of Road estimates it needs Rs 8 billion to maintain those roads, it has not been able to get more than Rs 3 billion for the task—meaning it is grappling with a budget shortfall of 60 percent.
Maintenance alone will not make Nepali roads safer. If the patterns of Nepal´s most road accidents are any indicator, the serpentine highways on cliffs badly need sturdy guard railings. Only metal railings (see picture) or rock-solid walls can prevent vehicles from falling or veering off the roads. For safety, both authorities and transport entrepreneurs must ensure that the vehicles are roadworthy, ensure that the just-bulldozed track is roadworthy. Just as aircrafts must pass airworthiness tests, vehicles must pass roadworthiness test too.
PENALTY
For safer roads, stringent traffic rules are a must. Rules that are meant to be followed—and not broken--are a must. As has been the case in recent times, all violators must be heavily penalized, including pedestrians. Take the country´s first six-lane highway for instance; over a dozen pedestrians have died there—the latest one on Sunday.
Like drivers, pedestrians, too, should follow the road rules. The timing cannot be better: Road Safety Decade 2011-2020 has officially commenced in Nepal too. Suraj Pradhan, an engineer, pointed out in a recent road safety seminar, “Without proper implementation of road safety measures, our roads have become death traps.” This has got to end. Roads must facilitate development. If rules are followed and safety standards enhanced, they surely will.
Writer is a BBC Correspondent
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