In absence of law, innocent motorists enduring abuses by rogue road users

Team Herald

CANACONA: With the exponential increase in numbers of motor vehicles and roads in the state remaining with the same dimensions, even a small mistake or misunderstanding between two fellow drivers leads to one abusing the other.

There seems to be no respect and fear of the law as thousands of innocent road users are being abused with impolite gestures, filthy language and are sometimes physically manhandled on the Goan roads on a daily basis.

With no legislations to handle this alarming new phenomenon, it has become the rule of ‘might is right’ as the victims bear it silently causing them lot of stress and mental trauma.

When this correspondent sought clarification on what law says if one faces such abuses, a senior police officer in South Goa said that if the victim approaches the police then they file a non-cognisable offence and direct the complainant to approach court for justice. 

But in reality the victims who are mostly law abiding citizens, not so physically strong and coming from respectable families feel it worthwhile to ignore such cases than to bear the brunt as the abuser lives another day to abuse someone elsewhere. 

The issue which seems minor has attained such huge proportion in reality as it has become a matter of play to abuse or intimidate someone and zoom off.

Regular road users say that if the authorities don’t wake up to this new form exploitation it may lead to a huge social issue in the near future.