Three years ago, the Department of Roads had constructed a road safety barrier in the Surkhet-Jumla road section along the Karnali Highway. Since then, the number of accidents along the road section has lowered, according to the record of the District Police Office in Kalikot.

Prem Khatri, a bus driver, said, “We [drivers] feel at ease driving on roads that have safety barriers. They prevent vehicles from swerving off the road.”

Janak Budha, a local, said that the crash barrier had stopped a bus with brake failure from swerving off the road at Darbare Bhir in Dailekh around four months ago.

“None of the passengers were injured that day. If the bus had plunged down the road, it could have killed many people,” said Budha.

The Road Sector Development Project of the World Bank had helped the department to construct road safety barriers as a pilot project. The barriers were built in parts of Surkhet, Dailekh, Kalikot and Jumla.

Shyambabu Oliya, deputy superintendent of police in Kalikot, said the construction of safety barriers has helped reduce the number of road accidents.

Shrawan Kumar Mahatara, chief at the Division Road Office in Jumla, said his office had installed crash barriers in the accident-prone areas of the highway. “We are also planning to install fences in other parts of the highway,” Mahatara said.