Road accidents in Nepal have killed as many people or even more than the figure claimed by the 10 years of armed conflict. One study reveals that they have taken the lives of about 5,000 people in just five years since the year 2000. Therefore, on average, road accidents claim three lives everyday, 83 lives every month and 1,000 lives every year. Unfortunately, many road accidents are not reported or recorded. Accidents only with significant property damage, serious injury or those leading to disputes and conflict are recorded. On the other hand, if an adult is killed in a road accident, then it will likely bring financial crisis to the family, which has to cope with a severe loss to their livelihood. Other consequences that may follow can be the drop-out of the victim's children from school and, of course, loss of a key role model in their lives.In this connection, it is worth mentioning that the majority of lives claimed by road accidents are of people aged between 15-40 years. This means, the country is losing potentially the most productive people to road accidents.Arun Karki
