Hit-and-run cases on the rise in valley

Kathmandu, October 2

A pedestrian died after being hit by a vehicle (registration number unidentified) in Sukedhara yesterday night. Metropolitan Traffic Police Division said the deceased was Krishna Prasad Mainali, 65, of Mandikhatar, Kathmandu.

The vehicle fled the scene after hitting Mainali at around 9:00pm. He died while being rushed to Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, Maharajgunj. MTPD said it was searching for the driver and vehicle involved in the hit-and-run case. An average of 14 road accidents occur in Kathmandu valley every day and at least one of them account for hit-and-run case, according to MTPD.

Senior Superintendent of Police Basant Kumar Pant, MTPD acting in-charge, said some hit-and-run cases were fatal while others left the victims injured or damaged their property, especially two-wheelers and light vehicles. Tippers, trucks, private cars, microbuses, taxis and motorcycles are behind most of the hit-and-run cases.

When there is a road accident and the driver flees the scene without providing assistance to the victims or contacting the police, it is considered a hit-and-run case. Speeding, reckless driving, jaywalking and haphazard overtaking, among others, are the leading causes of road accidents.

According to a figure released by MTPD, it registered 338 hit-and-run cases in the fiscal 2015-16, 612 in 2016-17 and 630 in 2017-18.

“Out of the 633 cases in 2017-18, 457 were settled by reconciling the drivers and the victims. These cases were related to damage caused to vehicles or minor injuries. Investigations into 173 cases are under way,” he informed. However, drivers and victims are not reconciled in cases of fatalities and serious injuries, and face vehicle homicide and attempted vehicular homicide.

SSP Pant informed that MTPD was watching the traffic movement through CCTVs, surveillance vehicles and go-pro cameras to ensure that any such vehicle doesn’t flee the scene. He said traffic police were concerned about the effects of hit-and-run cases on the victims and their families who are sometimes forced to pay the medical bills when the guilty runs away.

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