Drinking and driving operation shows result- Kathmandu, Nepal

Traffic police data reveals that about six to seven people are killed in Nepal everyday in road accidents. Most of the accidents do not just happen, they are caused. There are several reasons for traffic accidents like narrow roads, cracks and potholes on roads, negligence of road’s stakeholders, drinking and driving, et cetera. 

Drinking and driving is a serious problem worldwide, and also one of the major causes of road 
accidents.According to Life Tips’ site, each year approximately 16,000 people are killed in alcohol-related road crash. Drinking and driving is a crime but thousands of people continue doing so, with drunk driver not just killing himself but also other innocent people in majority of the cases. Therefore, controlling it is a must.Under the influence of alcohol, people lose their inhibitions and cannot concent-rate on driving, resulting in accidents.

In a country like Nepal where roads are narrow, sloppy, and sharp curved, driving is extremely difficult. Drivers need to be extra trained and careful to drive on such con-ditions. So drinking and driving needs to be strictly prohibited and penalties have to be charged to discourage drivers indulging in such rash behaviours. Alcohol disturbs a person’s ability to perform even simple task, as its consumption slows down human response and reacting time. 

On the other hand, the confidence level rises, creating a mismatch in real ability and resulting in ineffective judgment. Wrong judgment misleads to wrong actions, causing accidents.Since a couple of months, traffic police are strictly cracking down on drinking and driving act by launching a campaign against it. They have started stopping and checking drivers of motorized vehicles.

In Kathmandu, thousands of drunk drivers have been punished under the operation. This has not only caused a reduction in drinking and driving, but also created increment in revenue from the fine collected through drunk drivers. According to traffic police, the ratio of road accidents has come down since the anti-drunk driving campaign was initiated.

In the month of Asoj 2068 (September 2011), 22 people were killed and 47 seriously injured in 448 road accidents but in the past three months, the number of accidents has come down to 117, with seven deaths and 17 serious injuries.Hotels and restaurant entrepreneurs complained against the drive, citing that their business dropped along with the decline in consumption of alcohol. However, the drive has drawn positive indications from several other sectors which opine that such mal-practices need to be completely discouraged to ensure max-imum safety on the roads