Once again, another sad news for all of us as we read about a bus accident which has claimed more than 19 lives including few foreign tourists as well. I think there were 24 survivors but many face long-term issues as they have to deal with their injuries for the rest of their lives. The tourist bus from Pokhara met with an accident at early hours a long the Prithivi Highway.
The Trishuli river is not at fault but the highway connecting Kathmandu along the Mugling corridor seems to be left without proper maintenance while the focus is on only how to make the tunnel leading towards Kathmandu operational as soon as possible. We can't blame the government for every accident but if there were strong barriers on the side and the roads were not so sketchy that you have to swirl and do a 360 to avoid certain pot holes then maybe we could minimize lots of these accidents occurring in the area.
This is not monsoon season when we have to deal with lots of bus accidents due to landslides and poor road conditions where some of our bus drivers continue to drive as if they are training for a Formula One racing or they have to speed up whenever they see a turning or a bend or overtake a slow moving truck or a small vehicle.
I have traveled many a times from Pokhara to Kathmandu in many of the so-called tourist buses and mostly nights and so far I should thank God that I have been lucky. But most of the times, the bus drivers seem to speed from Mugling till they make a climb up hill in their final drive towards Thankot. I guess most of them have driven so much that they know every nook and corner and where the potholes are and how many meters have been left unpaved after few once in a while maintenance.
The only way to minimize any accidents along the Trishuli river area is to strictly enforce a speed limit which I think it is around 40km hour at max or even 30 or 20 around areas bending here and there. I have no idea why drivers driving the late night bus from Pokhara, which arrive early like 4 to 5 am in the morning, need to speed up when a nice comfortable legal speed limit ride will get you to Kathmandu maybe a hour or two later.
Then it would also be easier for the passengers to grab a microbus to their final destination in the Valley instead of being stuck in Kalanki at 4 am or Gongabu at 5am and wait it out for few hours or pay extra for Pathao or local consumer-extorting taxis. The average Rs 120 ride becomes three times with ride-sharing two-wheeler people while the taxis will try to to charge you double, the 400 become 800 at this hour.
As usual, the government announces a committee. A few member team with so-called experts will get extra fee for tea and so-called committee meetings and at the end the blame will go to the driver. If it is an airplane crash then the pilots get the blame most of the time while the airline owners are not held accountable for poor maintenance of the aircraft.
So how do stop bus accidents in Nepal be it the monsoon or the dry winter? Well, all I can say is that we cannot totally stop accidents because anything can happen on our highways. A buffalo might fall off a cliff and land on top of a bus while the driver puts on the brakes and the bus tumbles two hundred meters down the Trishuli river. A biker who is covered with dust might suddenly decide to sandwich between two buses and then put his life in danger as well of the passengers of the two buses overtaking each other at the same time.
We can minimize accidents if we strictly follow the speed limit. For long-haul drives like the ones taking 16 or more hours, there needs to be a two-driver shift as with most of the buses from Kakarvitta-Kathmandu route do follow but I have seen the Pokhara-Kakarvitta route still operating with a Hans Solo and it is a big risk. Why can't those agencies authorized to regulate and monitor our buses do their job right?
As with many of our businesses in Nepal, there is a syndicate system and the bus business is run like the Mexican cartels minus the guns and the drugs. I have seen many old buses still being used for long bus rides and many of our highways are still under construction or repair for the past half a decade especially the ones connecting Narayanghat to Butwal and the Asian Highway thing connecting Kakarvitta to wherever.
Even bus owners who buy new buses face rapid destruction of their vehicles due to poor road conditions. It seems that our transport entrepreneurs know only how to form their own committees and be affiliated with the political parties but can't seem to force or go on a strike to do the right thing. They will strike for higher bus ticket prices and prevent new ones from entering their routes but they will keep silent even when the road construction work takes years and years while their buses face all kinds of problems which reduces their earnings while forking out more dineros for maintenance every other week.
Well coming back to bus accidents, let us talk about how the foreign media highlights these accidents to warn their readers that the roads of Nepal are dangerous. Accidents do happen everywhere. More than three plane accidents in span of a week in India some time ago. So it is not only 'our' thing but it happens everywhere. But when it comes to Nepal, we seem to get a bad rap from the foreign media whenever such accidents occur.
Let us hope that the new government after the March election will make new rules and regulations by working it out with the transport entrepreneurs and the bus drivers. All stakeholders must have a say. Go over the speed limit, place a Rs 1 lakh fine. If the ride is more than 10 hours then there must be two drivers. If they don't follow this rule then another Rs 2 lakh fine. If there is an accident between two vehicles then it must be probed the by the local traffic police and the guilty party must bear all expenses and not follow the usual, whoever loses the most wins or being forced to reconcile and hash it out together to cover their own expenses.
In a country like ours, traffic fines must be increased hundred-fold or else everyone will continue to violate traffic rules because a few thousand Rupees fine seem to be too cheap for us. And the traffic police must be honest and not be fining the innocent party or looking the other way for speeding and other violations in exchange for special favors. Everybody must do their job right.
Our prayers to all the families affected by the bus accident. It was also sad to read that the owner of the bus was also among those killed. Dear bus drivers, drive at 25 when the sign says 25. Focus on the road. You are responsible for the safety of the people in the bus. Do not try to overtake another for the sake of saving a few minutes in your journey, especially around the bends on our highways. Wait for a straight road section if you have too and that too if you have the window to slide and no vehicle is flying across from the other direction.