Traffic Police Fined Errant Motorists in the Valley. Image Credit: The Himalayan Times

Jaywalkers Will No Longer Be Fined in the Valley

The Metropolitan Traffic Police Division (MTPD) has decided that jaywalkers will no longer be fined in the Valley from now on.

The penalty provision that allowed Traffic police to fine NPR. 200 from pedestrians jaywalking inside Kathmandu Valley roads has been dropped from yesterday. The traffic police will not detain rule-flouting pedestrians for three hours who cannot cough up the fine amount.

The MTPD rule had met with severe criticism, and there was a huge public outcry.  Home Minister Janardan Sharma summoned Nepal Police Inspector General, Prakash Aryal and MTPD Chief Mingmar Lama and directed them to scrap the provision of fining pedestrians.

Minister Sharma said, “Just imposing a fine on jaywalkers is not enough to discourage the trend of crossing road haphazardly. Traffic education is important and let’s make people aware of it. The system of imposing a fine will do no good for anyone. That is why it was decided that jaywalkers will not be fined in the valley.” He further added, “Resolve the traffic problem of Kathmandu Valley in such a way that people can feel a great relief as they had experienced during the ending of the load-shedding.”

SP Lokendra Malla, Spokesperson of MTPD, informed that the Division has waived the fine, adding jaywalkers caught red-handed, however, still have to attend the road safety classes of 30 minutes to one hour at the Division on the same day.

The MTPD with an aim to discourage jaywalking, traffic rules enforced the rules for pedestrians in the Valley from May 30. The move to revoke the provision came after a wide range of complaints including lack of zebra crossings, overhead bridges, and sidewalks in the city.

What do you think about jaywalkers not being fined in the valley anymore? Will this encourage people to stop jaywalking? Please share your opinions through the comments. We’d love to hear from you.

 

Reference: Kathmandu Post, The Himalayan Times