The latest statistics by the Transport Department reveals the dark reality of the lives lost on Goa’s roads every day. In the month of May alone, a life was lost every single day in fatal accident in some parts of the State. And to sum it up, 59 human lives came to an end in as many as 802 accidents within the span of just three months, April, May and June.
Aspiring to be the tourism capital of the country is a welcome step, but the statistical reality of being the accident capital of India scars the image and is marring the prospects of tourism economy of the State. According to statistics released by the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways earlier this year, with 109.4 accidents per lakh population, Goa outnumbered all the States for the year 2020. The second closest to that figure is Kerala with 76.6 accidents per lakh population. Goa’s accident rate is almost 4 times the national average of 27.6 accidents per lakh population. This despite the fact that the total number of accidents during the pandemic year dropped by a whopping 1,000 plus to 2,375 as compared to 3,440 in the previous year of 2019.
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However, truest picture these statistics reveal of the families that are devastated at the end of each day, the fact remains that every vehicle involved in the accident is a machine and the human behind the wheel or holding the handle controls the machine. Whenever, such statistics are put out, a debate rages in the society about the possible reasons and the steps towards arresting these numbers in order to ensure safety on the roads.
In March this year, the Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety (SCCoRS) citing the 1.5 lakh deaths in the country due to road accidents in 2021, sought the attention of the State governments to exercise the powers conferred upon them by the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and constitute District Road Safety Committees for each district. Amongst other directions, the SCCoRS directed that the 4Es viz Engineering, Education, Enforcement and Emergency remain the focus of the district committees.
The implementation of the 4Es needs a scrutiny not just by the government agencies but also civic bodies and NGOs. At a time when the road infrastructure has been upscaled, the cops need to be empowered with better advanced-tech equipments as a law enforcing agency.
Going by the own admission of the then Director General of Police (DGP), who acknowledged that while Goa had only 350 odd CCTVs installed, 50 per cent of these remained non-functional. And the scenario is nothing better, but perhaps on the downside as visible on the roads. The condition of the traffic signals too is abysmal with a majority of them non functional.
The tragic death of four after their vehicle crashed the Zuari Bridge and plunged into the river pointed at many faultlines of the system as well as those behind the wheels. Immediately after the accident, the current DGP called for speed restrain even as he pointed out that while the bad conditions of the roads is a truth, self restraint from driving at high speeds was key.
A senior traffic cop acknowledged that the State lacks the technological infrastructure required to ensure better traffic policing. At every instance, when a major tragedy is witnessed or statistics pointing at the grim situation is released, a slew of measures are announced.
However, the implementation of these measures, be it adopting advanced hi-tech equipments, better policing, reaching out to masses with awareness campaigns or placing appropriate signage on the roads, have been either delayed or remain non-responsive in red-tapism.
Goa needs to take the directives of the SCCoRS to logical ends. After all, in a welfare State the buck stops at the Executive.
