Kathmandu, October 2
An unusual conversation took place at the Kathmandu Valley Traffic Police Office on Thursday afternoon between traffic police officers and a driver who had been repeatedly penalised for violating traffic rules.
The driver, Ram Bahadur Bista of Makwanpur, drives a vehicle with registration number Ba 16 Cha 8064. He had recently begun making frequent visits to the traffic police office at Ramshah Path, where he had become familiar to traffic officers.
After learning that Bista had repeatedly faced action, Traffic Police Superintendent Naresh Raj Subedi asked his staff about him. Officers found that Bista had been penalised 729 times over the past six years.
Subedi then called Bista to the office and spoke to him for around half an hour, seeking to understand his circumstances and reminding him of traffic rules.
“We were surprised to hear that he had been penalised 729 times. We called him to understand how and why this was happening, listened to him and advised him not to repeat such violations,” Subedi told Onlinekhabar.
Bista drives a vehicle transporting iron and other hardware products. Traffic records show that most penalties were issued for operating a public goods vehicle without displaying the required identification signs.
He was also found to have covered the vehicle’s number plate and transported goods protruding beyond the vehicle’s body, including iron rods.
Some penalties were issued for running red lights and crossing lanes.
Bista has been penalised 729 times in six years—an average of 122 times a year, or roughly once every three days. He has paid 728 fines, while the latest remains unpaid.
Traffic police said the driver was never found to have driven under the influence of alcohol or drugs. In some cases, records show that he was penalised on consecutive days.
Traffic officials said they believe this is the first known case in Nepal’s traffic enforcement history of a single driver being penalised 729 times in six years. They said the case also indicates the need to reconsider approaches to traffic awareness, as some individuals continue to violate rules despite repeated enforcement.
