415 Review of Nepal’s National road safety action plan 2013–2020

Road Safety is a pertinent national issue with 2,883 road traffic fatalities occurs in 2022. Nepal in compliance with global commitment in accordance with the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011–2020 as, had prepared their own Road safety action plan (2013–2020) with target of reducing 50% road fatalities by end of 2020. The action plan had been formulated in five different pillars with assigned responsible stakeholders with well-defined activities. The road fatalities of 1,610 at 2010 rises to 2,500 in 2021, will is not as accordance with the target set. Poor database system, weak management system, political instability, lack of accountable organization and implementation framework are the reason behind the the current scenario. The existing policies and strategies, institutional arrangement and capacity are reviewed to assess the challenges associated with each proposed activity in the action plan. Despite the increases on road crashes and fatalities, but the rate is decreasing when compared with the registered vehicles. The existing institutional, legal and funding arrangements in Nepal had limited the prioritization of road safety in the country and implementation of activities proposed in the action plan. In a meantime, various positive changes have been made on each pillars. The results emphasis on the SWOT analysis of the current action plan. Road Safety Council is one the verge of finalization, Road Safety Act and other policies are being changed for betterment. Similarly, Road Safety Audit is being undertaken from Department of Road on the completed roads, Vehicles and Transport Management Act and Regulation is being amended; vehicles fitness center and Trauma center is being established and had started its operation, Institute of Engineering (Academic institution of Nepal) had launched Road Safety as a curriculum in Bachelor and Master courses to work on capacity building. With federal system, the main challenge is how road safety agenda will be taken at provincial and local government level. There is a need to strengthen the institutional and legal environment in the country in line with the new federal structure to achieve existing goals as well as plan for the next decade of action.