Suspend rent-a-cab service as interim measure
The recent spate of serious road accidents and fatalities involving rental cabs driven by tourists is extremely distressing. Innocent lives are being lost due to reckless driving by tourists behind the wheel. There have been several reports in the media of tourists engaging in dangerous stunts while driving the rental cabs, showing utter disregard to traffic rules and endangering road safety.
Not much is known regarding the follow-up in such cases and prosecution of the offenders by the authorities.
There is no doubt the rent-a-cab business provides tourism related employment opportunities to the locals, but this should not come at the cost of losing innocent lives due to reckless driving by tourists in a holiday mood.
The Government should take serious note of this prevailing grave situation and suspend the rent-a-cab service as an interim measure, while initiating a detailed investigation into the causes of road accidents involving these vehicles.
Stringent measures should be considered, including but not limited to the following: Install speed governors in rent-a-cab vehicles; install dash-cams with realtime connectivity directly linking to a centralized monitoring system; put in place a centralized system for verification of the motor driving licences of potential customers prior to allotting the rent-a-cab. Persons with a history of repeated, or serious vehicular offences should not be allowed the use of rent-a-cab in the state; make the operators equally accountable for road mishaps and fatalities; a substantial amount of security deposit should be made mandatory for obtaining a rent-a-cab licence.
It is high time the Goa Government steps in to check the rising incidents of road accidents involving rent-a-cab vehicles.
Felino D’Souza, Navelim
Impose hefty fines for over-speeding on bridges
An innocent young man who was proceeding to Panjim for work was flung into the Mandovi river on Thursday evening when the two-wheeler he was riding was hit by a speeding rent-a-car vehicle driven by one irresponsible tourist who was trying to overtake another vehicle on the old Mandovi bridge.
Well, with rising killer accidents like these, the government should seriously decide to ban the rent-a-car facility in the state with immediate effect as mostly the tourists (who don’t even know how to drive properly) who are seen hiring these rent-a-car vehicles for their sight-seeing picnics/tours. They are causing more of a nuisance for everyone and killing innocent people. If one observes these tourists while they are driving, it seems as if they have come to Goa to take some kind of car learning training.
Today, one can also see our locals indulging in their own racing competitions, drunken driving, over-speeding, over-taking, etc, defying the set speed limits and driving very dangerously on most bridges in Goa. Unfortunately, the Traffic Cell personnel are seen doing nothing to stop all this, but instead are seen standing at wrong places and only halting vehicles with outstation number plates and rented two- and four-wheelers.
I think that if the government really wants to save precious lives, then the traffic police and RTO personnel should be compulsorily stationed on all the bridges to monitor the speed of every vehicle and impose hefty fines on those breaking the traffic rules. Hope better sense prevails.
Jerry Fernandes, Saligao
Protective barriers needed along bridges
In yet another accident, a recklessly driven rent-a-car collided with a motorcycle on the old Mandovi Bridge sending the rider in the air and causing him to fall into the river. A few months back a speeding vehicle reportedly climbed the footpath and rammed into the railing of the Zuari Bridge creating a gaping hole. The vehicle landed in the Zuari River.
In July 2022, another tragic accident had claimed four lives after the car they were travelling in plunged into the Zuari River. These incidents bring to the fore the need to drive carefully and at the prescribed speed limit on the bridge in order to prevent such tragedies. It is pertinent to note that there mostly is a speed-limit of 30 kmph for vehicles crossing any bridge. Over-taking is also prohibited on the bridge.
Given the fact that the parapet wall along the bridge is low, there is every possibility of a vehicle or the person riding a two-wheeler landing in the river water below after a collision between two vehicles. It would, therefore, be prudent to have some sort of fencing on either side of the bridges in Goa by way of a wire-mesh or increase the height of the parapet wall. A low wall also poses danger to pedestrians walking along the bridge and makes things easier for those with suicidal tendencies. A wire mesh will also prevent individuals from flinging plastic bags filled with garbage into the river from moving vehicles.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
Road safety should be govt’s top priority
A motorcyclist fell into River Mandovi when the two-wheeler he was riding was hit by a rent-a-car on Thursday evening. Earlier, on February 9, a 68-year-old Portuguese national was crushed under the wheels of a private bus at the Panaji bus stand.
Goa Police’s traffic cell data reveals that 2,832 road accidents were reported in 2023, as compared to 3,011 the previous year. While in 2023, 256 accidents were fatal with 276 deaths, 2022 saw 253 fatal accidents with 271 deaths.
Goa’s rising vehicle population, combined with the influx of tourists, exerts immense pressure on the State’s roads. In a world where mobility is essential, road safety emerges as a shared responsibility that can save countless lives.
It is very painful to see lives being lost on our Goan roads, with so many families grieving over the loss of their loved ones. There have to be stringent measures taken to ensure that our roads are made safe for citizens and visitors.
Road safety should be the topmost priority of the government and Goa Police. Public awareness on road safety has to be conducted at regular intervals.
Newton Mendonca, Aldona
Nariman’s legal legacy will forever linger on
India lost the lighthouse of the Indian Constitution with the demise of Senior Counsel F S Nariman. A man of great wisdom, integrity and sincerity, he would not hesitate to call a spade a spade. In an interview to he had openly pointed out the flaws in the interpretation of the Constitution in abrogating Article 370 by the Supreme Court in the Kashmir case.
Nariman was appointed Additional Solicitor General of India from May 1972 to June 25, 1975. He resigned from the post in protest upon the Declaration of Emergency on June 26, 1975, by Indira Ghandi. He set the standards for the bar very high, for others to follow. He was offered the position of Judge of the Bombay high as well as the Supreme Court, which he graciously refused because if he said ‘yes’ he might have to say ‘no’ for a second time.
Nariman was the recipient of the Padma Vibhushan (in 2007) and Padma Bhushan (in 1991). He was awarded the Gruber Prize for Justice in 2002. He dedicated his awards to his alma mater Bishop Cotton School in Shimla. He joins the pantheon of great Parsi lawyers that once dominated the legal profession. Our memories may fade but his great legal legacy will linger on.
Agnelo Furtado, Chinchinim
