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| Edited By: Vijay Pandya |Source: DNA |Updated: Jul 31, 2018, 06:30 AM IST
Every week at least six persons die in road accidents in Goa. Road accidents occur due to a complex interplay of various factors such as conduct of drivers, condition of roads, condition of vehicles, environmental conditions, role of other road users such as pedestrians, road furnitures and markings, presence of stray animals, etc. Various stakeholders and agencies have a role to play in the reduction of road accidents. The most important stakeholder is the road user himself, as a motorist, cyclist or pedestrian. It is his/ her life which is at stake irrespective of whose mistake it may be. Since about 69% of the vehicles in Goa are two wheelers and most of the victims of road accident fatalities are also two wheeler riders, this is an attempt to address the role of two wheeler riders, including pillion riders, in road safety.
There can be no doubt that, in case of a motor vehicle accident, a good quality helmet, if tied properly, provides protection to the most delicate part of the human body.
This is a matter of common sense and numerous studies have also proved it. However, I am not only surprised, but also pained to see several letters to the editors in Goa newspapers, where people argue why they do not want to wear helmets.
Some of the common excuses given by them are:
All these excuses are nothing but attempts to justify their unfounded disbelief in the importance of the helmet in road safety. In fact, such people do not have any faith in basic safety precautions in whatever they do in their life. A mere hundred rupees of traffic fine cannot make such people change their disbelief.
Traffic Police still continues to challan such people as a matter of enforcing traffic rules and in the hope that one day people will start believing in road safety norms. I may mention here that in 2017, as many as 203988 riders were prosecuted for without helmet in Goa.
There is no assurance that these two wheelers riders will now learn importance of helmet and will wear it subsequently.
Sometimes, the whole exercise of prosecution, education and awareness seems futile for such people. But at the same time, I am not discouraged, and will continue to make my efforts to increase road safety and compliance to traffic norms, with a view to reduce traffic accidents and fatalities in Goa.
For the knowledge of motorists in Goa, particularly two wheeler riders, I want to share some hard facts from the analysis of data of traffic accident in Goa during 2017.
These statistics themselves reveal how important it is for both riders and pillion riders to wear a good quality, BIS marked helmet and tie its strap properly.
For those who give more importance to the safety of their smart phone screens than to their own heads, I have nothing to say. Only God can enlighten them. But they should remember that, law of probability of occurrence of death in road accident applies to all those who ignore road safety. They could be one of the six persons who die on roads in Goa every week.
Concerned with the loss of life in road accidents, Goa Traffic Police has been analyzing road accident data very meticulously and the analysis of data of 2017 reveals interesting facts as below:
Goa Police has also analyzed black spots and details were provided to road owning agency for improvement of these spots. We have been focusing on quality prosecution, which has direct bearing on reducing traffic accidents. These include drunken driving, over speeding, talking on mobile, dangerous driving, jumping red light, driving without license, minor driving etc. Till June end this year the prosecution of traffic offenders has gone up by 66.7 % focusing on quality prosecution with an aim to reduce accidents.
These efforts have started showing positive results, with deaths due to fatal accidents showing a decline of 22% for the first time in several years.
We can sustain this decline, if other stake holders such as Transport Department, PWD, Education, NHAI, Health Municipalities etc. contribute to this cause whole heartedly.
The number of registered vehicles in Goa is now almost equal to the population of Goa. A large number of tourists both Indian and foreigners visit Goa every year. Many of them drive their own vehicles or hire vehicles to drive around. It has been noticed that many of these tourists do not follow traffic rules and as a result meet with accident. Most frequently noticed violations by tourists are triple riding, without helmet, drunken driving not obeying speed limits, rash and negligent driving etc.
Therefore road safety is important for reducing accidents, injuries and fatalities. Last year 333 persons died in fatal accidents in Goa and I believe if multi-pronged strategy is adopted to deal with this issue we can achieve a reduction of at least 25 per cent in these deaths.
Road users are the most important stakeholders in the entire exercise of road safety. They must believe in the road safety principles and follow them willingly. Prosecution of motor vehicle offenders is effective only to a certain extent. There are several other challenges to road safety in Goa. A significant improvement is required in road signages, road markings and other road furniture.
We need to take corrective steps on various accident prone zones and black spots from the road engineering point of view. Pedestrian facilities are also inadequate. Parking of vehicles is emerging as a major problem in major cities such as Panjim and Madgaon. There is a need to increase amount of penalty for various traffic offences which were fixed 30 years back and are no longer a deterrent. Suspension/cancellation of licences of errant drivers as per Motor Vehicle Act and directions of Supreme Court committee on road safety is also required.
As far as the road congestion is concerned this is not a major issue at the moment and with addition of bridges on Mandovi and Juari rivers the problem will be considerably reduced. In the long run we will have to improve public transport system.
We conduct a lot of public awareness and citizen connect program for drivers, students and general public through various platforms such as training classes, social media, police website, TV and FM radio, etc. We conduct Summer Road Safety camps for school children. We have roped in NCC, NSS and nominated Road Safety coordinators in various schools.
My advice to tourists, both Indian and foreigners is that they should obey traffic laws in Goa. They should enjoy their stay in Goa but must also be safe on roads. Safety on beaches, while driving, in the swimming pool or any adventurous activities is important.
My vision of future for road safety in Goa would be to bring down the fatalities by at least 50 per cent and ultimately to zero. We have to go a long way to achieve this and sincere cooperation of all stake holders is important. The Honourable Chief Minister of Goa has been constantly guiding us in this direction. We are beginning to see a reduction in fatal accidents and I am hopeful that we would be able to sustain this trend.
