Nepal, May 10 -- Nepal has the highest per passenger kilometre traffic fatality rate in the world, with more than 4,500 people killed on its roads and highways every year. Upgrading road safety could save at least 40,000 lives in the next ten years.

The jeep that plunged off the a mountain road in remote Rolpa last month had a capacity for 10 passengers, but it was carrying more than double that number, and 20 of them died when the vehicle fell 500m into the valley below.

I have been writing this automobile review column for Nepali Times, and have my own YouTube channel with driving tips. But being on the road for as much time as I do, road and highway safety (or the lack thereof) has always been what worries me a lot.

Recently, I had ...