KATHMANDU, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- At least eight people were killed and more than a dozen went missing when a passenger bus heading towards Nepal's capital city from an eastern district plunged into the Trishuli River along a major highway in the second week of August.
The fatal accident involving the night bus occurred at 3:30 a.m., with traffic police later confirming the solo bus driver's fatigue as the major reason behind the tragedy, as he had been driving the vehicle for several hours without a break.
Police records attribute the majority of traffic accidents in Nepal to driver negligence. In light of this, a campaign called "Tea with driver" was launched in Province 2 last week to minimize road accidents along the East-West highway, particularly for long-distance routes.
As part of the program, jointly launched by Mithila Municipality based in the Dhanusha district and the Traffic Police Office of Province 2, a "Vehicle Refresh Center" has been opened in Lalgadh as a central stopover for night vehicles on the highway.
"We realized that drivers are often tired and sleepy on long routes, thus they can take a break for a few minutes and drink tea or water at the center. It will help them to get some rest and to freshen up, which can prevent accidents during night time, "Hari Narayan Mahato, Mayor of Mithila Municipality, told Xinhua by phone on Wednesday.
Mahato added that the traffic police will drink tea together with the drivers at the center and will hold light conversations with them to help relieve stress and to make the program more effective.
"We have invested more than 1 million to open the center, which has free tea and water for the drivers, a resting space and public toilets for passengers," Mahato said, adding that it is the first program of its kind in their province.
According to the Province 2 Traffic Police Office, there have been no serious accidents on the East-West highway since the launch of the program.
"At least 12-15 vehicles stop at the center at a time, with three traffic police officers regularly mobilized during the night time. Besides interaction and drinking tea, we also check their driving documents," Sub-inspector Surendra Koirala told Xinhua.
The officer further added that more than 100 passenger buses, trucks and other vehicles stop at the center in a single night. The duty traffic officers also cross-check their official documents and check the number of drivers in the night buses.
In accordance with the Vehicle and Transport Management Act, long-haul vehicles require two drivers changing shifts at least every six hours.
In an attempt to better enforce the regulation, the Highway Security and Traffic Directorate decided to monitor public vehicles traveling long distances through a mobile application developed a few months ago, but it has yet to come into operation.
According to the Nepal Police, a total of 2,789 people lost their lives in road accidents in fiscal year 2018-19, which means nearly eight people are killed on average every day.
Besides the carelessness of drivers, poor road conditions, the over-loading of vehicles, mechanical failure and bad weather also contribute to road accidents in the Himalayan country.
