From The Kathmandu Post Road accident commission in offing POST REPORT KATHMANDU, Oct 25 - The government will be forming a high level commission to investigate and recommend measures to contain road accidents, which have increased this year. There are also plans to construct a black-topped road at Krishnabhir and ensure hazard-free two-way traffic between Kathmandu and Pokhara by next year. "Within two weeks, a high level commission will be formed to investigate road accidents and recommend measures to contain them," said Urba Dutta Panta, state minister for Labor and Transport Management at a program organized by Reporters? Club Nepal here Monday. He was replying to queries raised by reporters on the sudden rise in road traffic accidents during the festive season and the government?s "continued apathy". Time-consuming security checks, overload, competition between entrepreneurs, bad condition of roads, drunken driving, erotic hoarding boards, lack of vehicle maintenance and failure to enforce rules have been cited as major factors behind traffic accidents. Experts blamed security checks for delaying vehicles, thereby prompting drivers to speed up so as to reach in time to catch other passengers. There have been reports of security checks on highways, which have held vehicles for hours. They also blamed the government for failing to enforce road transport regulations. Hom Prasad Adhikari, a transport entrepreneur said, the regulation clearly mentions that no vehicle is allowed to ferry passengers on the roof and take in more passengers than the number of seats, and that traveling without a ticket is illegal but none of these regulations are enforced. Ganga Ram Khadgi, a driver and leader of Nepal Drivers? Union said, though government regulation prohibits a driver from driving more than 200 kilometers continuously, it has not been enforced so far. The same driver is on the wheel, say from Kathmandu to Kakarbhitta, which is about 600-km apart. "Nobody monitors whether there is the mandatory additional driver for long route buses," he said. He also pointed out roadside wine shops, "attractive" pictures of models on hoarding boards in place of traffic signs on the highways, and women acquaintances sitting next to a driver as distracting factors . Bishnu Siwakoti, former president of the Federation of Nepalese Transport Entrepreneurs revealed numerous instances, in which transporters had bribed the government agency in order to obtain driving license, route permit and vehicle examination certificate. Kathmandu, Chitwan, Dhading, Lalitpur, Jhapa, Nawalparasi, Banke, Kailali, Dang and Rupandehi are accidents-prone zones, according to Sunil Poudel, engineer at the Department of Roads. He said that every year about 900 people die in road accidents and about 4,000 are injured. He added that trucks and tankers account for 39 percent of traffic hazards on national highways.