“I have been to more than 65 countries, and now conclude that the traffic in Kathmandu, Nepal is the most undisciplined and chaotic of all” said a foreign diplomat who returned to Nepal after 20 years. I have often spoken about this but his comment prompted me to actually write this piece. Having been to many countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America, besides Europe and North America, I can safely agree with the statement that Kathmandu’s traffic is among the most chaotic in the world.
I remember my first trip to some African countries in 1981. [break]
When I was back in Nepal, I got an audience with the late King Birendra, who asked me, “Well, what did you see?” I replied, “Despite being well endowed by Mother Nature, I saw many examples of people destroying their society and country. Please send your policymakers to Africa, to learn and prevent the same thing from happening here.” My comments did not please the king and his advisers, and from traffic to armed conflict, Nepal walked the path that I warned the government about. The problems we face today have been long in the making, only exacerbated by recent developments.
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Street is the best reflection of society, and Kathmandu’s traffic reflects the virus infecting Nepal’s body-politic and society. A truck hits a motorbike in Koteshwar, the motorbike rider falls and his legs are broken. Rather than rushing the injured man to the hospital, the truck driver reverses his truck, killing the man on the ground. A truck kills a child in West Nepal, angry villagers throw the truck driver into the Bheri River. A driver stops his overloaded bus to fix a broken part before continuing on a risky mountain road; some irate passengers thrash the driver for the delay and force him to move; the driver calls his wife saying he may not return and drives his bus over the cliff nearby; more than 40 passengers and the driver die. An environmentalist in his bicycle is mowed down by a car in the Ring Road. These are true stories of tragic traffic accidents, but their impact on our society is huge.
If one observes the street quietly from a corner, it gives valuable insight into the strengths/weaknesses and prospects/problems of a country’s politics, economics, society, and governance. No one is willing to stop for five seconds to let someone else go, but everyone is ready to wait for ten minutes in a jam created by trying to overtake someone else. Does it not reflect the nature of our politics and society? The streets are chaotic partly because they are not well planned out—one of the main causes of traffic jams in the ring road is the location of the central bus park, which is far from the traffic entering and exiting the valley—but also because people do not follow rules, and those managing the streets are inept and corrupt.
The streets also show the resilience of the people, their tolerance, endurance and ability to adapt for survival in difficult circumstances. Young generation is society’s hope for the future, but my worst fear also comes from the behavior of motorcyclists, mostly young.
Road expansion is necessary for ameliorating the traffic situation, but obeying and enforcing rules, civic sense, courtesy, and better management are also important. What differences can one find between the traffic in Montreal, Zurich, Sydney and Tokyo and in Jakarta, Karachi, Lagos and Mexico City? The difference is in the way traffic works, streets are managed, and people behave. Civilized societies follow norms and rules including the principles of order, stability, prosperity, and security. In their absence, societies are confused, chaotic, conflict prone and unstable.
A country is much more than its physical territory. It is a collection of a multitude of people of different cultures, religions, economic status and political beliefs bound together by a set of values, norms and sense of common destiny. Values, norms and habits are influenced by actions of leaders and behaviors of the elite. As more and more people accept such actions and emulate these behaviors, they receive social sanction, and become the established norm.
Nepal’s main problem in politics and society is leadership without vision. This is best shown in the current expansion of Kathmandu’s streets. It is an idea whose time had come, but it could have been done without turning the whole city into a war zone. Has anyone seen the plight of the pedestrians today or thought about the effect on public health tomorrow? Where are the stops on the sides for traffic to flow uninterrupted? Why couldn’t a government so gung ho about construction fix a few culverts and bridges risking the entire East-West highway? Where is the priority on public transport, bicycle lanes or green areas, let alone on fruit orchards and play grounds for children?
The problem is not limited to one government or individual, it has to do with the mindset of society. People living in Jawalakhel send their children to schools in Bansbari, while those living in Bansbari send their children to schools in Lagankhel. The poor children are forced to travel for over two hours each day, and that is apart from the waste of fuel and expenses in the process. A wise relative of mine moved from Bansbari to Jhamsikhel, as otherwise by the time his two daughters completed their school in St Mary’s, they would waste over two years each in buses.
Kathmandu’s traffic is a showcase of Nepali people struggling to survive under the burden of Nepal’s politics without values and society without norms. When leaders on whom people repose their faith suffer the most from mental traffic jams, politics naturally gets distorted, economy stagnates, states fail and people suffer. Change demands popular response from below for better leadership, and governance from above.
The tragic stories of the traffic accidents in Nepal show the pattern of a society in distress and a state in crisis. Hopefully these signals will force people, politicians and society collectively to think and rethink.
The author was a member of the Secretariat of the Special Committee for the Supervision, Integration and Rehabilitation of the Maoist Army
sambins@gmail.com
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