Being a traffic police in Kathmandu is not an enviable job. Every day, the police have to stand in the scorching heat for hours at a stretch; more so in the summer without water. And they are arguably the ones most affected by Kathmandu’s heavily polluted air. Constant honking, vehicles overtaking from the wrong side and damaged traffic lights all add to their woes. There is no respite even after rush hour. Barricades are raised and around 35 surprise checkpoints need to be set up in different parts of the Valley to patrol against drunk driving. Sometimes, the officers on duty are seen inspecting the drivers with breathalysers. But mostly, they just engage in polite conversation and take a whiff of their breath for alcohol.

The zero tolerance policy against drunk driving, enforced since December 2011, has yielded many

positive results. Road accidents have fallen by 16 percent, according to the Metropolitan Traffic Police Division (MTPD). Every time a person is caught violating the rule, their licence is confiscated, a hole punched and Rs 1,000 charged as a fine. Once the licence has five holes, it is automatically cancelled and the driver has to get a new permit. In addition, offenders are also required to attend a mandatory one-hour traffic orientation class each time they are caught.

Of late, many drivers seemed to have found a way around this system. Offenders, instead of collecting their licence at the MTPD, take out a new license from the Department of Transport Management (DoTM). Sometime ago, 49 people where charged for holding forged licences. Currently, there are more than 13,000 licences lying unclaimed at the MTPD. This implies that many are either driving without a licence or now have new ones.

This situation demands that the MTPD and DoTM work in greater coordination. Digitising records at both the institutions will help track phoney documents. There is also a need to combat corrupt practices that only assist people in seeking an easy way out. Only last month, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority arrested 12 employees at the Transport Department, accusing them of corruption. Furthermore, for the anti-drinking drive to acquire greater support from the public, help the traffic police and silence people who are against 'sniff-tests', the use of breathalysers must be made mandatory. In the long run, there is a need to determine an acceptable Blood Alcohol Content—percentage of alcohol in the blood—limit for drivers. In neighbouring India, for instance, a person found to have over 0.03 BAC is fined upto Rs 2,000, jailed for six months or both on the first time itself. If the offence is repeated within three years, the penalty could go upto three years imprisonment and/or Rs 8,000. Similar measures could be adopted here.