Team Herald
PONDA: Despite numerous traffic awareness and road safety drives, Ponda leads the State, in the number of accidents. In the past 11 months alone (January to November), 22 people lost their lives on the streets, within the jurisdiction of the Ponda police. Of those who died, 14 were two-wheeler riders, one was a pillion passenger, and four were pedestrians. A car passenger also died in a car crash at Shiroda this year.
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In the year 2020, a total of 29 deaths were reported and in 2021, a total of 25 deaths occurred in Ponda, with most fatalities being two-wheeler riders. According to police reports, a majority of these mishaps involved collisions between the two-wheeler and bigger vehicles like cars and trucks, while a few were ‘self-accidents’, often due to reckless driving or faulty road aconditions. The Ponda traffic police booked around 41,058 cases for various traffic violations from January to November this year, and recovered a fine of Rs 1.61 crore, said Ponda traffic PI Krishna Sinhari. “Rash and negligent driving is the main cause of accidents, including the rise in fatalities. Faulty road engineering and failure to obey traffic rules are other causes,” added Sinhari.
Among the 41,058 cases booked, a whopping 1,797 were caught overspeeding , 142 were driving under the influence of alcohol , 103 using their mobile phones while driving and 6,610 were booked for dangerous parking along the highways. 5,926 two-wheeler riders were fined for not wearing their helmets and 155 were pulled up for dangerous driving, he added. “A fatal accident does not just kill one person but leaves several others with injures and failies without support or income. Road users need to have self-control and make it a point to drive safely and obey traffic rules,” he asserted. Goa Road Safety Forum President Dilip Naik said that the government needs to address and improve the dangerous sharp curves on the highways of Ponda, to prevent accidents.
