The latest policy of Nepal Traffic Police for the reservation of seat for women, old and disabled has been strictly followed by the public vehicle staffs as well as passengers. People beside these category hesitate to sit in these reserved seat even if other seats are occupied in spite they prefer to stand and travel. The same thing is not followed in case of Zebra crossing. Nowadays public consciousness has raised in Nepalese people regarding the use of Zebra crossing despite some news and humorous cartoons published in newspapers according to my witness yet, it doesn’t seems so for drivers.
fig: zebra crossing in nepal
In my workplace while having lunch i love to watch outside and my eyes are usually transfixed in the passing vehicles, peoples walking and the white strips of Zebra crossing. Sometimes foreigners walks through this and are astonished that none of these vehicles are stopping at zebra crossing. I don’t think that walkers only know the use of zebra crossing, it’s only the negligence of drivers and lack of strictness from Traffic police. It should be implemented as in case of seat reservation, the guilty should be fined then only the rule will be strictly followed.
pic: sky bridge for road crossing nepal
The lines of Zebra crossing is not a showy thing, every vehicle should wait in Zebra crossing and cross only after the walkers passes away.
New update:
First of all there are no traffic lanes or marking for lanes on the roads. Most of the roads are 1 or 2 lanes max.
If there is a traffic jam some drivers will just cross over to the on coming traffic lane and move forward causing more jams to the on coming traffic.
Even if the driver is aware of zebra crossings, some might not know that they have to stop to let the pedestrians cross, that is because of lack of education. Strict rules and the process of getting drivers license should be reformed.
In Nepal cars do not stop for people. In fact, when they see people crossing the road on a zebra crossing, they put their pedal down on the accelerator and speed up so other pedestrians will be scared to cross. In Nepal, the automobile culture of bigger, faster and more expensive has rapidly caught up with the rest of the world, with truck-like SUVs piling into tiny lanes meant for pedestrians. But while the latest SUVs crowd our street, rules and regulations that govern driving in the rest of the world has not caught up.
