The Kathmandu Valley Traffic Police Office on Friday issued fine tickets to a dozen school bus drivers in Kathmandu Valley for violating traffic rules and ignoring School Bus Directives.

The traffic police office issued a press statement saying of the 12 drivers one was booked for not installing guard rails on windows and the rest were booked for violating traffic rules and also disobeying the School Bus Directives 2074.

In November last year a school boy of Samakhushi, Kathmandu died after being hit by a tree as he had pulled his head out of the bus window.

Many people blamed the school’s negligence for the death while others accused traffic police for poor inspection of school buses.

“We have been more rigorous with inspections after that incident,” said Senior Superintendent Rajendra Prasad Bhatta, spokesperson for the Kathmandu Valley Traffic Police Office.

“Because school buses carry students, traffic police have to be extra careful to ensure that the buses follow the rules,” said Bhatta.

Meanwhile, Bhatta said the other 11 bus drivers were nabbed for violating basic traffic rules and not following the School Bus Directives 2074.

The directives state that buses that carry schoolchildren must be painted yellow, and if schools have hired buses for ferrying children then such buses should have stickers reading “On School Duty” pasted on the front and rear. The directives also require that the windows have guard rails and bus crew while on duty should avoid alcohol and smoking.

However, in August last year when the traffic police started checking school bus drivers for drink-driving, five school bus drivers were arrested for driving under the influence.

Officials said since then over five dozen school drivers have been booked for drink-driving, which the Guardian’s Federation Nepal and other stakeholders have been calling ‘unforgivable crime.’

The traffic police have started a campaign against drink driving since December 2011, and it has resulted in visible reduction in road accidents.