PANJIM: As part of its strategy to curb the rise in the number of accidents in the State, the Traffic Police have devised a system to identify and monitor black spots where accidents are prone to occur. The move is essentially to monitor vehicular traffic and deploy additional staff at these locations.
Superintendent of Police (Traffic) Devesh Kumar Mahla said that the exercise in Vasco and Ponda has resulted in a drop in accidents as compared to the previous years.
“Depending on the stretches where fatal and grievous accidents have been reported, certain black spots have been identified and monitored. At these points and time, the Traffic-in-Charge himself remains present to supervise traffic management and this has shown remarkable results,” he said.
The officer said that if these few but small aspects are looked into and controlled, accidents will definitely decrease.
Speaking about the initiative to rein in cops who violate traffic rules themselves, he stated that they are not only issued a challan but departmental action is also initiated. “We have also recently constituted a vigilance squad to ensure traffic police on duty don’t stop vehicles unnecessarily. We have also instructed traffic cops to wear name plates whenever on duty. We have told them not to stop those following rules unnecessarily,” he added.
Mahla also spoke of attempts in creating awareness through education. “We have an intensive programme for students where they are given instructions on road safety, control and regulations. This year we will increase the number of the student intake for this programme,” he explained, adding that each traffic cell in their respective area adopts three schools wherein students from the institutions are imparted training on road safety and safe driving.
Students are also enrolling as road safety volunteers where they are imparted practical training on road safety.
