Metropolitan Police Increased Surveillance Patrols on Ring Road

Metropolitan Police Increased Surveillance Patrols on Ring Road

Metropolitan police have increased surveillance patrols on Ring Road following the reports of rising road-rule violators. Even with the strict rules and traffic police officers on the road, there have been increasing number of hit-and-run cases and motorists exceeding speed limits.

Shedding light on the issue, police have now started patrolling the Koteshwor-Kalanki sector after reports of frequent accidents, noting details of vehicles and driving in a bid to identify culprits easily in case of an incident.

Drivers of vehicles plying the nearly 10-km stretch now have to provide details—register vehicle number, their name, time and contact number—at Balkumari, Satdobato and Balkhu. The rule of submitting details is compulsory for all the vehicles plying on the road between 10 P.M. to 5 A.M.

According to Deputy Superintendent of Police, Binod Silwal of the Metropolitan Police Range, Satdobato, police started monitoring vehicles and drivers as they found it difficult to trace those involved in hit and run case.

DSP Silwal said, “Some hit-and-run cases have been reported in recent months. There are no CCTV cameras installed on the stretch. We cannot track speeding vehicles and drivers as they flee immediately.” He further said, “We succeeded in identifying one driver in a hit-and-run case after two weeks. Increased monitoring will ensure that drivers drive carefully. Now we can produce evidence of vehicles involved in accidents at the time of them passing the road is recorded for verification.”

There has been a public clamor for overlooking measures to keep road users safe. The main expressway has four lanes where vehicles can run at a speed of 50km per hour. However, the design does not have a separating median dividing the expressway. This would lead to fatal accidents, experts warn. Watchers have raised concerns over the negligible number of overhead bridges and crossing points and the absence of road dividers, traffic lights and zebra crossings, whose presence improves pedestrian safety.

“There have been concerns about the engineering design that, perhaps, leads to accidents,” DSP Silwal said. “One pillion rider died when his motorbike fell into the space that divides the expressway and the service lane. Records show speeding drivers reach Koteshwor from Satdobato in five to seven minutes.”

With the increased surveillance patrols on the Ring Road, hopefully, the drivers would be more concerned about plying their vehicle on the road more carefully.

 

Source: Kathmandu Post