In a bid to make night buses that come in and out of the Valley safer, Nepal Police is launching an application, on Sunday, that will check if drivers are being changed during the course of the journey so as to ensure the buses are being driven by alert, attentive drivers.

Traffic police have long been complaining that they are finding it increasingly tough to keep tabs on drivers. To put their concerns to rest, the ‘Traffic Communication App’ has been developed by the programmers of the Communication Directorate at the Nepal Police headquarters to make checking easier for officials stationed at different intervals.

“The app will allow traffic personnel to click a picture of the driver at one point and the traffic personnel at another point will be able to check whether the driver is the same or was changed,” DIG Rajiv Subba, Chief of the Directorate told the Post. “The picture will be captured along with the bus number.” By implementing this method, police hope to reduce the number of accidents that occur by ensuring drivers are not tired and negligible while on duty.

According to Subba, the plan to make the app was developed after the traffic police at Tarai districts expressed the problem. The plan was also praised by Inspector General of Police Sarbendra Khanal, said Subba.

The app will be launched at three different places—Nagdhunga, Kohalpur and Karmaiya—on Sunday.

The picture of a driver will be captured in Sambhunath, Saptari, for the vehicles en-route to the Valley from the east, and in Kohalpur, Banke, for the vehicles en-route to the Valley from the west.

The picture will be checked by the traffic at Nagdhunga to see if the driver has been changed or not. Similarly, for vehicles leaving the Valley, the picture will be captured at Nagdhunga and checked at Sambhunath and Kohalpur.

“The cases of the accidents due to driver’s negligence have been a major problem. Drivers feel sleepy during the night, particularly if they are driving for a long time. This leads to accidents. The app is the easiest method at our disposal to check whether drivers are being changed or not,” SSP Uttam Raj Subedi, Spokesperson of Nepal Police told the Post. According to Nepal Police data, 8,461 cases of accidents among 10,965 occurred due to driver’s negligence in the last fiscal year.

An approximate 2,005 buses were involved in accidents.

The traffic police outside the Valley have also said that the app will be very useful for them to check the drivers and ensure a safe journey for the public.

“This app will make our task easier,” SP Kiran Bajracharya, Chief of Pathlaiya Traffic Police told the Post.

“If the drivers are found unchanged during the entire journey, we will warn them and demand an explantation from their operators. If they regularly keep violating the rule, then we will cancel their registration by lobbying with the department of transport,” said Bajracharya. Nepal Police have said that drivers must be replaced every six hours or 250 km during the night time.