The government has suddenly realised the need for traffic education after issuing the notification. Needless to say, the government will eventually forget about providing traffic education and levying e-challans.
The government is yet to create special roads, where license applicants can perform their driving tests and hence, traffic inspectors have to conduct these tests in public spaces. There is a separate division in the traffic police department for traffic literacy and this has stayed limited to only addressing higher secondary school and college students. Although issuing e-challan and using AI for traffic management sounds good on paper, no one seems to be taking into consideration the difficulties in implementing them. Has anyone checked if the mobile numbers of vehicle owners are registered in the office of the Department of Transport to send them e-challans? The tourists from all over the country come to Goa in their own vehicles so the question of how to get their contact numbers remain unanswered as well. There is also no clarity over how to penalise the vehicle owners, while he is making his way out of the State in case he has violated traffic rules. Will the traffic signals be checked whether they are working properly or not, where CCTV cameras will be installed? For example, there is a signal on the Panjim-Mapusa route at Teen Building, Porvorim, and the red light of that signal has been dysfunctional for nearly a month. This confuses the motorists, as suddenly the green signal goes up skipping the red one. There is a huge gap between the actual problem and the resolutions.
The traffic police are expected to regulate the traffic but they seem to be more interested in penalising the vehicle owners, under the garb of discipline. O Heraldo has already brought to light, how police treated Delhi-based businessman and his family at Agassaim. This gives a hint why police have been deployed on the road. It will be courageous to deny accusations from tourists that they are treated with disrespect by the Goa police. The traffic police are busy doing the same in scorching afternoon heat as well and the rumour that police are given a target of recovering a particular amount seems to be factual. The number of vehicles in the State, especially two-wheelers, have seen rampant rise in recent years. With the rise in the number of vehicles, the width of the roads has also increased. This has allowed people to drive dangerously and is becoming a prime reason behind the accidents.
Traffic congestion has become a daily affair in urban areas and decongesting it is the responsibility of traffic police. Although police are deployed at various spots, they never make their presence evident. They hide nearby to spot reckless drivers to penalise them. They park their vehicle somewhere at the side of the road and go about their business of slapping fines. Once they ask the motorists to take their vehicle at the side, it is understood he/she will be penalised, regardless of whether they have violated the rules or not. The police do not show generosity to make way if an ambulance is stuck in traffic. Who and what kind of action will be taken against them? Motorists have modest expectations from the traffic police and that is to decongest the traffic. Instead, police are content checking licences, PUC certificates, helmets, both the mirrors, indicators and other documents. The motorists due to their day-to-day duties might forget to carry all the required documents with them everyday. However, he/she is eligible to be penalised if they fail to fulfill even one of the aforementioned requirements. Since the police are more interested in doing that, the question of who will provide the traffic education remains unanswered. Despite raising traffic awareness among people and inculcating discipline being at the forefront of the traffic policy, these things are yet to become a reality.
