11 killed, 9 injured in road accidents

POST REPORT

KATHMANDU, Nov 1 - At least 11 people, including five in the capital, were killed in road accidents during the Tihar festival across the country. According to Metropolitan Traffic Police Division, Ramshahpath, at least nine persons were critically injured in 66 road accidents, while two dozen received ...

The number of accidents during Tihar  exceeded the accidents that occured during Dashain festival. During Dashain, only 65 accidents were recorded.

Kathmandu Valley witnesses 170 cases of accidents a month on an average, according to the traffic police. Traffic police say drunk-driving to 'mark festival revelry', rash-driving, tendency of motorcyclists to carry more than one person as pillions are other factors that result in higher number of road accidents in the Valley.

The tendency of motorists to drive their vehicles at high speed in the relatively empty roads is primarily a reason for the surge in road accidents during Dashain.

Motorists admit as much too. Khadga Bahadur Thakuri, a bus driver, said his normal speed had gone up by 10-15 km per hour during Dashain. "It is normal for many drivers to accelerate when they see empty streets," said Thakuri. "This also helps to save expensive fuel.

"We were able to bring down the death toll this year as we checked drivers at various road intersections with breathalysers to avoid drunk-driving," said Inspector Bhetawal. "Most of those meeting accidents are teenagers.

Similarly, six people died in different road accidents in other parts of the country within past three days, police said.

One person died on the spot when a private car skidded off the road and fell some 150 metres down at Simbhanjyang in Makwanpur along Tribhuwan Highway on Friday. The deceased, who was driving the car, has been identified as Saligram Neupane of Hetauda, police said.

In Kailali, a pedestrian, whose identity has not yet been ascertained, was killed when a motorcycle hit him at Bauniya along the East-West Highway on Thursday. The postmortem of the dead is yet to be carried out, said Area Police Office Lamki.

Similarly in Kaski, a 32 year-old Mahendra Nepali, a local, breathed his last on the way to Western Regional Hospital Pokhara after a bus hit him at Pumdibhumdi road stretch along Siddartha Highway, Thursday evening. A 10 year-old Bibek Baral was also injured in the incident, police said. The injured is undergoing treatment at Pokhara-based Manipal Teaching Hospital.

Likewise, two Indian nationals-- Babi Dalai and Satya Prakash-- were killed in a motorcycle accident at Gaighat of Pokhara on Tuesday night. They had been working in Pokhara as plumbers since long.

They received serious head injuries after the motorcycle they were riding on hit the wall, police said. The injured duo died while receiving treatment at Manipal Teaching Hospital.

Meanwhile, locals obstructed traffic movement at Sanga along Araniko Highway in Kavre district on Friday protesting a recent road accident.

One Gautam Kumar Joshi of Nasikasthan-3 died three days ago near Dhulikhel in a motorcycle accident.

The cause behind the accident is under police investigation. However, the irate locals obstructed transportation claiming that Joshi was killed in a hit-and- run case.