Addressing the audience at his Independence Day speech, CM Laxmikant Parsekar raised several issues of concern. However one striking policy concern that was perilously missing was our road safety track record in the State. According to official estimates (Government of India, 2013), Goa had the highest number of road accidents per lakh of population. In addition, we also hold the distinction of the highest number of persons injured in road accidents per lakh population.
In a written reply provided in the Goa Assembly, 1067 persons died due to road accidents in the last 42 months, which comes to more than 25 persons a month. In most societies such statistics would ring alarm bells and measures to contain them would be demanded urgently by the people. Public representatives would face considerable pressure to not delay ignoring this problem anymore.
Yet the discourse around road safety has been surprisingly placid. Business is as usual although we average almost one life lost per day. To be fair, the state government did notify a State Road Safety Policy & Action Plan for Goa in May 2015, acting on the recommendations made by the Supreme Court appointed three-member committee to monitor steps to ensure road safety. The plan sets an ambitious target to reduce fatalities in road accidents by 50% by the year 2020.
The plan prescribes both remedial measures to fix road infrastructure as well as institutional frameworks to help identify blackspots, create awareness, and set training benchmarks. However this plan, like all action plans, has proved to be little more than a summary document. With no annual implementation report presented by the government, it is difficult to establish progress. Indeed based on news reports in these pages and others, we are left wanting for more action.
Last month, the CM spoke at the inaugural function of the road safety awareness lectures organized by the traffic police department. Correctly highlighting the need to educate commuters on traffic safety, he would’ve done us a service if he had also spoken a little about road design and traffic engineering. By choosing to only impart a one-way education to citizens on traffic awareness, we ignore that as commuters, they may also have suggestions to improve road safety.
This is because there is a tendency to equate road safety only with awareness of traffic rules and its enforcement. That perspective puts the focus on the individual, as if it wasn’t for his or her poor judgment, the accident could’ve been avoided. However it is equally about poor design – sharp curves, no grade separations or road dividers, inadequate lighting, absence of signs and traffic signals – that shape outcomes that could be fatal. Implementing agencies must recognize this, and work together with commuters.
The good news is that the Central government has taken significant steps to enable and improve road safety practices around the country. As recent as 2015, following an order of the apex court, the Central government notified the ‘Good Samaritan’ rules and guidelines. A Good Samaritan is a person who helps another in difficulty or distress. In case of road accidents, any person who helps the victim would be termed as a Good Samaritan.
The detailed guidelines protect the Good Samaritan from legal and procedural hassles – a worry that many people can have when they witness an accident and are in a position to help. In a final judgement in March 2016, the apex court has made the implementation of these guidelines and SOPs binding on all States & UTs. It is telling that the Goa State Road Safety Policy has no mention of good Samaritans and their protection.
Moreover, this week the Minister of Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari has said that Regional Offices of the Ministry and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will be delegated powers to approve plans for improvement of road accident black spots in the country. This is a welcome move for Goa, since NH17 is the lifeline of Goa. The state government should use this development and push for rectification of black spots with utmost urgency.
In June 2014, after the unfortunate demise of Union Minister Gopinath Munde in a road accident, stronger road safety provisions in the law were first mooted. After missing three timelines imposed by the Government, the cabinet finally approved and introduced The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2016, in the monsoon session of the Parliament.
To give credit to the government, this Bill establishes a Motor Vehicle Accident Fund regarding compulsory insurance of all road users, gives legislative backing to protection of Good Samaritans, vehicle recall policy, unified driver and vehicle registration systems, among others. The Bill, in all likelihood will be referred to the Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committee for Transport, and we hope to see the Bill with strengthened road safety provisions.
As with most policies, the implementation of the provisions of the Bill will fall on the state government. The incumbent government would do well to begin work to incorporate the proposed provisions such as electronic monitoring and enforcement of road safety that reduce human intervention, creating awareness of Good Samaritan guidelines, and improve parking facilities that discourage indefinite stoppage or parking on the road, among others. Goa is in a good position to take advantage of the development of ideas and technologies. Despite being a small state, the Transport Department enjoys significant income earning which could be used on commuters’ safety. That should be leveraged to create a model state for road safety.
Indeed both government and citizens must work together to resolve this crisis in Goa. A healthy dose of pressure and persuasion would be the best way to honour the many victims of road accidents.
(The author is an analyst and writes on policy challenges for Goa.)
