Nepal witnesses at least 75 road accidents daily on average with around seven people losing their lives in them, according to a Nepal Police report.

The police recorded 2,276 accidents in the month of Poush (mid-December to mid-January) that killed 197 people. As many as 3,417 sustained injuries while 646 of them were seriously injured in the accidents which involved 3,374 vehicles.

The report shows motorcycles meet with the highest numbers of accidents. Of 3,374 that crashed in a span of a month, 2,076—around 70 percent—were motorcycles. This is followed by cars which account for 13 percent and buses whose numbers are close to six percent.

“The highest numbers of accidents are reported between 6 in the evening to 12 midnight,” according to the report. Of the total accidents, over 39 percent took place during the night time. Similarly, around 37 percent of them were reported between 12 noon to 6 pm.

As per the police assessment, over-speeding is the main cause of accidents. The uncontrolled speeding led to over half of the accidents—1,160—followed by drink and drive. The drink and drive continues even as the traffic police under the Nepal Police have been carrying out an anti-drink and drive campaign for the last 15 years. One driving under the influence of alcohol has to pay fines and receive classes from the police. Fined for five times on drink and drive can lead to cancellation of the driving license.

However, still hundreds of cases of drink and drive are reported every month which is also a cause of significant numbers of accidents. “As many as 247 accidents in Poush resulted due to drink-driving,” the report says. Jaywalking and traffic rule violations led to 135 and 117 accidents, respectively.

The traffic police raised Rs94.6 million in fines from 118,168 traffic rules violators in the sixth month of the fiscal 2024-25.

The surge in the numbers of vehicles too is increasing the numbers of road accidents annually. As per police record, as many as 2,369 people lost their lives in road accidents in the previous fiscal year leaving hundreds of others injured.

Over 24,000 people have been killed while 50,000 others got injured in the road accidents in the last one decade. The country witnessed 260,000 accidents—major and minor included—since 2014.