I lost my teen aged son in 1988 due to a road accident in a vehicle driven by a minor without a license. I had subsequently approached the High Court with a plea that parents in general should be held responsible and minors checked for driving on the roads, so we do not similarly lose young lives. The judge admitted the plea, appointed amicus curiae, regretting legal difficulty in parents being held responsible. The next judge dismissed the case on the grounds that the new Vehicle Act took care of my plea. New Acts and laws are aplenty but implementation tardy!
Regrettably in 2014, the police are still reported to be seriously checking minors driving without license during traffic safety week! I am listing what goes on daily on our roads courtesy inability of our Traffic Police, RTO and authorities to regulate. I will keep the PWD- due to whose criminal negligence if not incompetence we get killed or maimed due pot holed roads, dug trenches and speed breakers all not properly marked, not to mention badly constructed roads, material dangerously heaped at roadside curbs etc- out of this purview.
The traffic lights (rare in Goa) turns from green to yellow, and a car suddenly accelerates left and right, overtaking others in front all slowing down, to beat the red light! Another vehicle indicates turning right and almost hits an overtaking vehicle when instead turns left! Either he/she forgot to turn off the blinker or is concentrating talking on the mobile phone. You cannot keep a safe distance from the vehicle in front. Either the driver following will annoyingly keep honking or cross the yellow line, overtake and try to fill up that gap! Overtaking from the left appears to be the norm! Dipping lights at night is another problem, for few drivers do, thus blinding oncoming traffic. At a traffic meeting I suggested all cars have top half portion of headlights blacked out. This was rejected as head beam was required to see potholes in time!
During monsoons water accumulates and vehicles will speed through with no consideration splashing dirty water on two wheelers or pedestrians. Nobody slows down at Zebra crossings, in fact traffic accelerates! Two wheelers will zig-zag from left to right and overtake without allowing for forward movement of your vehicle, thus causing you to brake and possibility of collision with vehicle at the rear. And if you happen to touch or collide, you are at fault and liable to be beaten up or lynched. Driving through one way streets I find is common and you get bad mouthed if you dare to point this out. I fail to understand why if you indicate turning left; vehicles will simply ignore it thus blocking your turning even though there is clear unobstructed space on the right! On a slope or at an island, nobody gives way as required by traffic rules. And traffic etiquette-forget it!
Parking is another in-disciplined act. People rarely bother now how the already parked vehicle will be able to exit. City roads are full of double and triple parking. The police have given up clamping defaulting vehicles. Pay parking is mooted in Panaji as the next solution that will in fact cause multiple problems! Nobody wants to seriously take people into confidence and work out solutions that will be in public interest whilst considering young, old and physically challenged citizens. Town and Country Planning should be forward looking at least 10 if not 20 years ahead. Prevention would have been better and the sooner the situation is brought under control, the better for all concerned.
The immediate problem is discipline on the roads. Not fining but penalizing drivers, taking away their licenses or impounding their vehicles for a certain period depending on the offence and sustained traffic policing carried out, not only during traffic week. I cannot understand for example, why a traffic cop cannot be stationed in plain clothes in the middle of the Mandovi bridge with a walkie talkie/mobile phone, note the many defaulters crossing the yellow line, speeding or breaking traffic rules. Challan them, photograph the act, prosecute them no matter if friendly taxi driver, politician’s or any big wig’s cars is involved! I have requested this be done right from the time of Digambar Kamat, personally meeting him, the SP (Tr), DGP all in vain. They just won’t listen and take the trouble to implement deterrent action, but we find 5 cops at the end of the bridge to easily catch and fine helmetless two wheelers!
There is no alternative now but to prevent and limit vehicles entry into cities. We could enforce odd and even number plates on alternate days. Have parking on the outskirts and frequent comfortable and convenient mini buses plying in the city. A prominent newspaper ran an anti-garbage and nullah/stream cleaning campaign for Panaji headlined “If Parrikar can’t do it, who can”. We can apply this to his government, for Parrikar rules and Ministers/MLAs are allowed to keep and enjoy their portfolios without unbiased performance audit and consequent necessary changes. I do not see any sense of urgency in government getting down to serious action to stop more and more nincompoops driving ruling the roads, resulting in increasing accidents, trauma, road rage, and many times irreversible damage and death! I have used the word “nincompoop’ due appropriate harsher word would be unprintable and censored.
(The author is a retired naval officer)
