The Kathmandu Valley Traffic Police Office took action against 336 vehicles across the Kathmandu Valley within a single 24-hour period for violations of traffic rules, with driving under the influence of intoxicants emerging as the most common offence. Office spokesperson Superintendent of Police (SP) Nareshraj Subedi said 102 drivers were penalised for driving under the influence, 39 were booked through CCTV cameras and 20 for driving through red lights. The same day's tally also included 57 drivers penalised for speeding and eight for honking while driving, while the remaining vehicles were actioned for other infringements of the traffic rules. The enforcement details were reported by RatoPati and Nagarik News.
Drunk Driving Tops the Day's List
Driving under the influence of intoxicants accounted for by far the largest share of the penalties, with 102 drivers booked out of the total of 336. In other words, close to one in three of all vehicles penalised during the period was actioned because its driver was found to be operating the vehicle after consuming alcohol or another intoxicant.
Traffic police in the valley treat impaired driving as one of the most serious offences on the road, given the dense traffic, narrow carriageways and heavy pedestrian movement that characterise the capital. A driver under the influence poses a risk not only to other vehicles but also to the large numbers of pedestrians, motorcyclists and cyclists who share the valley's roads every day. The offence is one that the Valley Traffic Police Office consistently prioritises in its enforcement drives, and the latest daily figures suggest it remains a persistent problem despite repeated action.
Cameras and Red-Light Violations
39 drivers were penalised on the basis of CCTV camera footage, underlining the growing role of surveillance technology in the valley's traffic management. Camera-based enforcement allows the traffic police to identify violations at major intersections and busy corridors without having to stop every vehicle physically, and it has become an increasingly important complement to on-ground checking.
Red-light violations accounted for 20 penalties during the same period. Jumping a red light at a busy junction is treated as a high-risk offence because it endangers vehicles that are crossing on the green signal as well as pedestrians using the crossing. Enforcement against signal violations, whether by personnel at the intersection or through camera footage, is aimed at reducing collisions at points where traffic streams converge.
Speeding and Horn Use
Speeding was the second largest single category of the day, with 57 drivers penalised. Excessive speed is a recurring concern on the valley's main arterial roads, where vehicles moving above safe limits put at risk pedestrians crossing the road and two-wheeler riders navigating congested lanes. Police action against speeding drivers is intended to reinforce safe speed limits on stretches where violations are frequently recorded.
Eight drivers were penalised for honking while driving. Unnecessary use of the horn is restricted under traffic regulations as part of efforts to curb noise pollution in the densely populated valley, and motorists are expected to sound the horn only where it is genuinely required for safety. While the number of honking penalties was small compared with other categories, its inclusion in the daily tally shows that the traffic police are acting against lesser-known violations as well as the more dangerous ones.
Other Violations and the Wider Picture
The remaining vehicles, roughly 110 of the 336 total, were penalised for other violations of the traffic rules that the office did not break down individually in its announcement. Taken together, the categories disclosed by spokesperson SP Subedi accounted for the majority of the day's actions, with driving under the influence, speeding and camera-detected offences forming the bulk of the penalties.
The Kathmandu Valley, which comprises Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur districts, has some of the busiest and most congested roads in the country, and the Valley Traffic Police Office deploys personnel across all three districts to enforce the rules. Its daily enforcement figures combine on-ground checking with camera-based monitoring, giving a snapshot of both the scale of violations and the range of tools the office uses against them.
The one-day total of 336 penalised vehicles highlights how frequently traffic rules are breached on the valley's roads, from impaired and speeding drivers to signal jumps and unnecessary horn use. With drunk driving alone accounting for more than a hundred penalties in a single day, the figures underline the enforcement challenges the traffic police continue to face as they work to improve road discipline across the Kathmandu Valley.
