Jaywalkers booked in the valley.

Over 13,000 Jaywalkers Booked in the Valley Last Week

We all have been seeing the mixed reaction from the people about the new rule that has just hit the town. Some people are happy with the new traffic rule while others are criticizing for introducing the strict rule without making proper infrastructure before enforcing it. The Metropolitan Traffic Police Division (MTPD) has booked around 13,387 jaywalkers in the valley over the past few days, collecting NPR. 2.6 million in fines since the first day of new traffic rule—prohibiting pedestrians from crossing the busy streets and using the zebra crossing or sky bridges while crossing the road. The new traffic rule came into force on Tuesday.

According to the traffic police, over 13,000 people were charged NPR. 200 in fines each and the ones who weren’t able to pay the fine spent three hours in detention, including half an hour attending a road safety class.

There were around 3,348 jaywalkers booked in the valley on Tuesday, the day when the new rule came into being, followed by 3,592—the highest so far—on Wednesday.

“By Saturday, people have become more aware of jaywalking,” said MTPD Chief Deputy Inspector General Mingmar Lama. “Our aim is to bring it to zero.”

Kathmandu has around 107 crosswalks for pedestrians and 50 percent of it needs repainting.

The Department of Roads (DoR), which is responsible for maintaining roads including paintings of zebra crossings, speeding up its zebra repainting. Dip Barai, traffic engineer at the DoR said, “We are very aware of the fading zebra crossings. We have intensified our work and repainting of all the faded zebra crossings in Kathmandu will be completed by this week.”

The repainting at Tripureshwor, Thapathali, Koteshwor and a few other places has already been completed, he added.

The MTPD has deployed 148 traffic officials and 370 temporary police for the check on jaywalking while mobilizing more than 1,500 traffic police for public awareness. The division has also coordinated with 1,275 schools and colleges in the Valley for disseminating messages on road safety.

“We have booked rule violators only in areas where there are zebra crossings and sky bridges,” Lama clarified.

With this new rule in the town ongoing, we hope there would not be any more jaywalkers and would reduce the rate of accidents caused by jaywalking.

 

Reference: Kathmandu Post