The Metropolitan Traffic Police Division (MTPD) introduced time-card system for heavy vehicles (trucks and tippers) in the Sanga-Koteshwor section on Tuesday along with a rule of lane discipline for heavy and light vehicles in the Suryabinayak and Koteshwor road section.

The Home Ministry had directed the Chief District Officers of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur, and the MTPD to arrange tippers and trucks to ply the Valley roads only during the night from 8pm to 5am in

response to recent spike in fatal accidents involving heavy vehicles.

Following the decision, the MTPD has arranged three time slots for trucks and tippers in the Sanga-Koteshwor section. Under this regulation, the tippers and trucks will be allowed to run only between 6-8am, 12-3pm and 8-10pm on the route. There is no time-card system for the vehicles between 10pm and 6am.

According to Inspector Jagat Nepali of Bhaktapur Metropolitan Police, the District Traffic Police, Kavre will issue the time-cards to the vehicles in Sanga. The cards will be checked and changed at Jagati and Thimi respectively before the final checking at Koteshwor.

“Time-card has different time-limit for different destinations based on the distance covered. The 6.2-km Sanga-Jagati section will have the time limit of 20 minutes, while the 5.2-km Jagati-Thimi section will have the 17-minute limit. The vehicles have to cover the 4.5-km distance between Koteshwor and Thimi in 14 minutes,” said Inspector Nepali.

The MTPD has also designated a lane for heavy vehicles in the Suryabinayak-Koteshwor section. MTPD Spokesperson SP Surendra Mainali said the lane discipline has also been enforced in order to mitigate road accidents.

“Heavy vehicles such as tippers, trucks, passenger buses will have to use the left lane, while two-wheelers and light four-wheelers will ply the right lane,” said SP Mainali, expressing hope that the new rules will decrease the number of road accidents.