Driving Us Crazy
Goa is a State with classy cars, but regrettably no classy traffic culture. While our wheels have grown sophisticated, our traffic manners lack sophistication, though we may be tempted to take solace from the fact that the situation in other parts of the country, especially North India, is much worse.
The recent spate of fatal accidents underscore that speed, arrogance, careless driving and a lack of concern for other road users, besides a geometric increase of vehicles and unscientific design and alignment of roads, are the underlying causes for the dangers lurking on Goa’s roads.
In the 1960s and 1970s, cars were the domain of the elites; but the democratization of the road, as it were, with its consequent proliferation of vehicles, has come with its hazards ~ there has been no parallel improvement in road culture, etiquette and road science.
A significant number of accidents are caused by over-speeding, drunken driving, driving through no-entry areas (especially at night), talking on cellphones or even changing channels/CDs on the car stereo. But if one attempts to question the lawbreakers, arguments generally end in
expletives and even violence.
Drivers rarely give right of way, stop behind zebra crossings or allow pedestrians and traffic coming from the other direction to cross, either due to ignorance or arrogance. Pedestrians traversing zebra crossings are uncertain whether motorists will stop to allow them to cross or will run them over.
Foreign tourists are bewildered at such a culture where zebra crossing are a joke. At traffic intersections, for instance, one notices the rage of over-accelerating vehicles hurtling aggressively and as close as possible to the center of the junction, creating maximum problems for the traffic cop; the law of the jungle prevails at junctions where there are no policemen present.
Respect for pedestrians and cyclists is non-existent. But one also notes with shock a new trend which has developed among impatient and careless pedestrians who put their hand out and force speeding traffic to break dangerously, every few metres, where there are no zebra crossings.
On the highways, speeding, vicious overtaking, driving slow in the right lane (which is usually demarcated for fast traffic) whilst speaking on the cell phone or to fellow passengers is rampant. Not using indicators is another issue. Changing car stereo CDs ~ which caused a Ponda bus accident ~ is another hazard.Parking at intersections in violation of the Motor Vehicles Act, unnecessary honking and the like are among the reasons why many do not enjoy driving in our cities and towns anymore.
Then there are the private bus operators who are a law unto themselves, driving buses without stop lights or sidelights, leading to many accidents. Overcrowding, standing on footboards, blaring loud music are serial violations which the RTO has consistently tolerated for obvious reasons.
Apart from the fact that the government has to send its engineers for professional training to catch up with the evolution of road and highway alignment rather than taking consultancy steroids, the deterioration in road ethics has added to the perception of Goa an an “anything goes” state.
Agencies such as the RTO, traffic police and civic authorities have failed to enforce discipline among motorists, scooterists and pedestrians. Educating motorists and pedestrians while simultaneously enforcing stiff fines for law violators without it all descending to more bribery and corruption, is the need of the hour.
