Road Safety in Numbers: Using Data to Illustrate the Nepal’s Scenarios

Road Safety is one of the critical issues globally Nepal, with rapid unplanned urbanization and growing road networks, has seen a tremendous rise in road casualties in road accidents. This study is an attempt to reveal the existing road safety situations of Nepal. Using the national dataset gathered by Nepal Government, this study examines the evolving road safety challenges of Nepal, focusing on vulnerable road users (VRUs) and systemic gaps. Using multi-year crash data from 2001 to 2024 and statistical analyses, it reveals that motorcycles account for over 50% of traffic crashes with young and middle-aged male drivers facing the highest fatality rates. Similarly, correlation analyses and severity index show that the vulnerability associated with two and three-wheelers is prevalent with instability and limited inbuilt safety features, whereas male above 25 years consistently followed by children below 6 years age are VRUs in Nepal. Early licensing, limited driver training and weak enforcement contribute to high crash involvement among youth. Pillion riders especially female remain at high risk due to low helmet use and lack of regulation. Child fatalities, proportionally lower than other groups, are linked to preventable conditions such as unsafe pedestrian zones and poor protective measures. The outdated transportation acts, absence of spatial crash data and poor local enforcement hinder targeted interventions. Furthermore, lack of proper road design and construction standards and practices, no road safety audit and safety inspection, little-to-zero communication campaigns on road safety, implementation gaps on road safety actions plans with adequate budget and institutional arrangement have exacerbated the road incidents in the country.