FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 2024
Team Herald
PONDA: Seven people were injured in a head-on collision between two cars at the busy Mangueshi Junction, which does not have a traffic signal, on Thursday afternoon. The victims, including three women and a child, were taken to the Ponda sub-
district hospital for medical attention.
According to the police, the two cars were travelling in opposite directions – one vehicle was proceeding towards Panjim and the other, from Panjim. While crossing the main junction to get on the Mangueshi road, they crashed into each other and spun, and both vehicles came to a stop facing the same direction.
Minister Govind Gaude who was travelling the same route at around 4.30 pm stopped by and helped the seven injured occupants of the cars by shifting them to Ponda SDH in a police van.
Following the crash, Mangueshi locals gathered at the spot and demanded that a signal be installed at the junction. Local resident Gansham Gaude said that the unmanned junction was an accident-prone zone, and several fatal accidents have been reported there before.
“There needs to be a signal here, and speed-breakers as well. These rumblers do not help slo traffic down, on the contrary, vehicles speed up to avoid being jolted by the rumblers,” he added.
The two parallel roads running at Mangueshi on the Ponda-Panjim NH Junction are one-way roads for traffic proceeding from Ponda to Panjim and vice-versa. However, this junction has proved to be a death trap for vehicles that are coming from Panjim and proceeding towards Mangueshi. Several lives have been lost due to accidents on this route due to the confusion prevailing in the absence of proper road safety measures and speed breakers on this National Highway. Vehicles often speed up over the rumbler strips and end up crashing into other speeding vehicles. Locals have been demanding safety measures for the past many years and even resolutions have been passed but the situation has remained the same.
