The Transport Department released data for the number of accidents in the State between January and October this year, and it draws a grim picture of just how many families lost their loved ones in the first ten months of 2023. On an average, 23 precious lives were lost in road accidents every month of the calendar. This year a total of 228 people died in 2,365 accidents between January and October, while January alone registered 39 deaths in 272 reported accident cases. Every year the months of January and December record the highest number of accidents and also a surge in the number of deaths on the roads.
While the Transport Department informed about the number of accidents and fatalities, the Goa Police released a set of data on their achievements in attempts to enforce the rules on the roads. Nearly 4.38 lakh traffic rule violations were fined and a whopping Rs 25.65 crore was collected by Goa Traffic Police in the last 10 months, from January to October this year.
The year 2023 enters the last lap with December and Goa will dive into the festive mode of tourism with charter flights, cruise arrivals and tourist influx from across the globe and the country. Lakhs of tourists will arrive to tick mark Goa on their bucket list of activities for the year before ushering into yet another new year. In the early days of 2024, a new set of data on accidents and fatalities for 2023 will be released by the government departments and the cycle of governance continues as usual.
However, the data only provides information that reports the end result that is accidents, deaths, violations and fines collected. A piece of vital information on the causes of these accidents and also the instruments and types of equipment used for enforcement of the traffic rules is missing. None of the government data will ever have information on accidents caused due to bad roads, faulty road engineering, violations by contractors undertaking road infrastructural works, etc.
The Transport Department should provide information on the number of applications received, tests conducted and driving licences granted during the same period. Also, data on the number of new vehicles that have been registered and the number of vehicles that have been granted registration renewal after passing fitness tests should also be provided. Data on the number of blind spots removed, the number of accident-prone zones identified and corrected during the same period, the number of new traffic junctions created and signals installed, the number of broken and non-functional traffic signals repaired, CCTVs installed and repaired, and the measures taken to curb overspeeding on roads is not available.
Similarly, the Police Department should provide the details of procuring and implementation of new technology and the number of spots where the technology is implemented and functional. The department should highlight the steps taken to curb drunken driving in statistics, for example, the number of breath analyzers available at each police station across the to measure the blood alcohol content (BAC) of the motorists, the number of speed guns and their allocation to police stations, etc.
Of course, the onus of responsible driving is on the public, but ensuring that only well-trained and qualified adults are granted a driving licence is the responsibility of the Transport Department. One cannot have the privilege of securing a licence by virtue of receiving ‘training’ at a driving school, because while under training the vehicle is equally under the control of the instructor and not the driver alone. Similarly, the number of rent-a-bikes and rent-a-cabs that can be seen on Goan roads is a cause of concern since tourists more than often manoeuvre vehicles based on directions of the Apps.
Road engineering, traffic signals, road medians, street lights, etc, are concerns that have been raised time and again, and government departments ought to take responsibility for their failures. A traffic signal after installation is never attended to and if it malfunctions, then it is mostly not repaired until citizens raise a banner of protest.
Therefore, even as the departments put out data to inform the public about the number of accidents, deaths, traffic violations and fines, it is equally important that the government introspects its work. A government is elected to serve the interests of the public and to ensure a better life for its citizens and not the other way around.
