The presence of traffic police on Goan roads is prominently felt. The domestic tourists, who are currently present in the State in high numbers, wander around on the rented bikes while police take them aside to slap fines.
Most tourists take help of the online maps to reach their desired destinations. When coming towards Panjim from Mapusa, it’s easy to miss the small road on the left-hand side at Porvorim leading to the older bridges. The road sometimes cannot be noticed immediately if there is a vehicle parked on the left side of the Atal Setu. Many times the signboards informing that the two-wheelers are prohibited on the Atal Setu get blocked by these parked vehicles. The bikers realise it later when they have already travelled a few metres and get caught by traffic police when they try to return back.
The motorists can be informed about no entry on the bridge by installing digital sign boards 100-200 meters before the bridge. At the same time, only police would know what they achieve by pinpointing the tourists or non-Goa registered vehicles and checking only their documents out of the entire crowd.
If the authorities concerned are claiming to have found stolen vehicles by such inspections then they should reveal the statistics of recovered vehicles. This does not mean that the violators should go unpunished at all. The motorists, who overspeed, overtake in prohibited areas and drive in a way which poses danger to others should definitely be penalised. However, targeting only tourists stains Goa’s image, which is known as a tourist destination and the government should take note of that. Today, Goa is not the only option tourists have. The tourist facilities are also being developed in the neighbouring States’ districts of Sindhudurg and Karwar. It will not take much time for tourists to explore other available options once they realise that they are being intentionally targeted in Goa. The State government can resolve this by taking a few proactive steps. The authorities can provide a sticker to the vehicles with the validity of one week at the State’s borders after checking the documents. When in doubt, the traffic police can stop the vehicle only to check the dates mentioned on the sticker. This will save tourists time as well as their ongoing persecution.
Majority of the tourists who come to Goa are newly-wed couples. The rider is guided by the pillion rider with the help of online maps. This is when the traffic police spot them, take them aside from the crowd and levy fines. Tourists in groups can be seen from Mapusa to Canacona making a halt if there are traffic police ahead. This shows how feared the tourists are of the police.
The domestic visitors visit for about three to four days and if they are fined on each of these days, how are they supposed to have a pleasant time on their trip? If the residents of Goa visit other States as tourists and encounter a similar stance taken by the regional police, they will definitely share their experiences with their circle. The same has been happening in our State. The impact of the penal actions taken will not be felt right off the bat, but once the number of visitors decline, the measures taken to minimise the damage will go in vain.
Time has not passed yet and the government instead of focusing on penalising motorists should stress on the road safety awareness. PWD should take immediate action to implement the suggestions provided by traffic police to reduce the accident-prone zones. Care should be taken that the speed of vehicles remains under control and for that, the signboards showing speed limits have to be placed accurately. While travelling from Old Goa to Banastarim, a signboard before the bridge indicated a speed limit of 50 kms. Soon after, the next signboard indicates the limit of 40 kms followed by another with a speed limit of 30 kms. Such misleading boards should be replaced at the earliest. The government before taking action against the motorists should take a review of its official affairs. If there is a speed limit sign, there should also be another board ahead which notifies drivers that the speed limit zone has ended. There is not a single such board in the State. With the advent of CCTV networks, it has become easy to identify the traffic violators. So, this should be a reason enough to decrease the presence of the police on the roads. The maltreatment of the tourists has to stop entirely and the preference should be given to traffic education. Only then the visitors would look forward to coming back to the State which has a long reputation as one of the favourite tourist destinations in the country.
