The Metropolitan Traffic Police Division in Kathmandu has made public the overly loud horns it seized from vehicles in the valley, adding yet another feather to its cap. In urban areas, the limit for vehicle horns is 70 decibels, but vehicles in Kathmandu were found to have horns with sounds as high as 120 decibels. Altogether 993 vehicles with horn volume exceeding the limit were fined between Rs. 1,000 to 5,000. This project is expected to reduce sound pollution in the valley, especially around sensitive locations like hospitals and schools. This is yet another example of how, in recent times, the Metropolitan Traffic Police has gone out of its way to make the streets safer and less intimidating. Increasingly, the traffic police are becoming the most visible security agency with the most active engagement with the public. [break]
Among its conspicuous programs are awareness raising initiatives. Posters about rash driving, over seating, and vehicle conditioning vie for space with different commercial billboards around the city. Awareness slogans, mostly related to speeding, pepper the traffic dividers. The provision for reserved seats for women, elderly, and disabled had been mere platitudes until recently. Notice for the reservations were often found hastily scrawled in buses and micros of the valley, but never enforced as everyone scrambled for the first seats they could find. But now, drivers and conductors ask people to get up from reserved seats and place the right people on the designated seats. Taxi fares have been regulated, with the offer from traffic police to verify the metered fare if any consumer is not satisfied with the rates charged by the driver. The Department of Transportation Management has even released more stringent guidelines for issuing licenses, which will make it much harder for inexperienced drivers to obtain licenses. The branches of the Department of Transportation Management across the country that do not meet standard requirement will reopen only after alternate locations are found.
In Nepal where people do not tire of griping about government indifference and lack of implementation of rules and regulations, the active engagement of the traffic police gives a ray of hope. At least, one aspect of civil life is well policed. Moreover, most initiatives of the traffic police have been successful. The one against drunk-driving, which has by now become a signature project of the Metropolitan Traffic Police, has recently crossed a milestone by earning Rs 50,000,000 for the exchequer. Of course, its major achievement is not the revenue but the reduction in road accidents, especially during festivals. Such successes are proof that with right effort, law and order can be maintained in the country. In fact, the traffic police can be an inspiration for other government agencies. If each government agency fulfills its duty with as much enthusiasm as the traffic police and provides people the service they are entitled to, they can surely earn the trust and respect of the public. This is the best way to cure Nepali citizens’ apathy towards the government.
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