Nepal Stats & Facts

"—Over 90% of the world's fatalities on the roads occur in low-income and middle-income countries, even though these countries have less than half of the world's vehicles"

The legal age for consumption of alcohol in Nepal is 18. However, there is a part of the Nepal society that flouts the law based on their religion and allows their children to drink alcohol at a much younger  age. 

The main road traffic rules:

• -Seat-belt wearing is obligatory when driving.
• -The minimum driving age is 18 years.
• -Use of protective helmets to riders of motor cycles is mandatory.
• -Drinking and driving is prohibited; the permitted blood alcohol level is 0.0%. Breathalyzer tests are applied to check drinking and driving.
• -People who cannot hear sounds on the street are prohibited to drive.
• -It is not permitted to use cell phone while driving.
• -There are no speed limit zones. An average driving speed inside Kathmandu valley is 40-50 Km/h
• -Nepal does not have any official motorway or any motorway speed limit.
• -Nepal does have a national seat-belt law, and the rule is applied only to the driver and not to the front and rear occupants.

Some additional information:

• -Driving in Nepal is extremely difficult as most roads do not have lane markings. 

• -Honking is used commonly on the roads.

• -In Nepal, there is one highway which connects its capital, Kathmandu, to India. 

• -During the monsoon season from June to September, many of the mountain and hill roads are impassable.

• -Traffic jams are common on major city roads between 9:00 (9 a.m.) and 19:00 ( 7 p.m.).
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http://www.adcidl.com/Driving-in-Nepal.html
http://nepalitimes.com/article/nation/traffic-accidents-continue-to-increase-worryingly-in-Nepal,2799
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7778842.stm

Safety roads issues in Nepal

There are numerous safety issues on the Nepalese hill roads (which form a substantial portion of the road network) such as poor visibility at blind corners; poor shoulders; unforgiving side-drains, inadequate safety barriers at steep vertical drops; unscientific location of passing bays in single lane roads; lack of climbing lanes; very steep gradients at numerous sections, narrow sections at built-up areas, etc.. 

http://dor.gov.np/documents/6.%20Strategic%20Road%20Network%202013_14%20Map.pdf

Nepal is broadly classified into(South to North): 
-Flat terrain: Terai
-Mid Hills and valleys
-Steep Mountains 

Construction of Roads is challenging and difficult in the hills and steep mountains 

http://www.unescap.org/sites/default/files/2.17.Nepal_.pdf


Since Nepal embarked on its road construction programme, the Ministry of Physical Planning works and Transport Management said that the country has so far built 25,115km of roads, of which 11,565km is dirt road, 6,077km is gravel road and 7,474km is asphalt paved road. Statistics from the Ministry of Physical Planning, Works and Transport Management showed that 1,180km of new roads were constructed in Nepal in the 2011-2012 fiscal year alone. The statistics revealed that of the 1,180km of roads (short of the 1,280km target), 290km were surfaced with asphalt and 407km were gravel roads, while there were also 47 new bridges built in the period. 

http://www.worldhighways.com/sections/key-projects/features/nepal-plans-road-infrastructure-expansion/

http://smjournals.com/public-health-epidemiology/fulltext/smjphe-v1-1014.pdf