I do not think that either the RTO or Traffic Police are serious in implementing any of the rules for the safety of pedestrians or motor vehicles plying on the roads of Goa as per the rules. I will inform you that they look the other way when rules are broken for the following reasons and why pedestrians should also be booked and fine:
The definition of a Jay Walking is crossing the road wherever they want to and in case of accidents the onus of the owner of the vehicle owner to prove that he was not driving his vehicle rashly at the time of the accident as it has been seen that so many times the drunken pedestrians suddenly walk in the path of the vehicle without looking where they are going and bang the vehicle causing serious injuries not only to themselves but also to the vehicle owners.
Advise: Vehicles should compulsory stop only at Zebra Crossing and nowhere else to allow pedestrian should the roads which is not followed in Goa.
I have noticed that two-wheelers overtake from the left of the road and do not bother even if signal is give by a car that he wants to turn into a by-lane.
Advise: When new licences are issued the former should know that it is wrong to overtake from the left side of the road as it is also difficult for cars to see from which way these motorcycles and scooters are coming from.
Has the RTO or for that matter has the Traffic Police ever caught tourists drinking in their cars or spitting out of the cars without looking to see who is behind them? How many of these people are fined? I travel frequently from Margao to Calangule and I see so many violations of the law with the patrol police just sitting in their cars doing nothing about this.
I laugh at people not only the illiterate but also the literate rich industralists and business people when you confront them on why they have stopped in the middle of road to take a mobile call? What they say is that the law says that when we get a call we should stop and take the call but is it right to take the call in the middle of the road causing traffics jams just because their highness wants to take a call in the middle of the road causing these traffic jams.
Half the times no one indicates when they want to turn into an internal road which are many on the Highway.
Finally I would like to say that using of helmets should be made compulsory for everyone even on internal roads and by-lanes wherever. But I have also noticed that the Traffic Police stand in places where the violators for the same turn into internal lanes and by-lanes not to get caught. And also why are the CCTV cameras not operational to catch violators?
In order to catch violators and have a safe Road Safety Week we would like the RTO and Traffic Police to advice everyone as per international norms how to drive and not give advise only to the helmet users but also catch the wobbly two- wheelers who have driving licences but are unable to drive in heavy traffic and hampers everyone movements too.
