Agnelo Fernandes
The Herald dated Monday, July 13, 2015 had a news piece titled, ‘Odisha cracks down on fancy number plates’ . That made me put my thoughts to work – Is Goa working towards this kind of action? If yes, what is the plan and what is the time frame this will be actioned upon?
On vehicles zooming through the road networks of Goa, there are either invisible numbers on their plates, or only half the numbers visible, half painted in fancy style, half in another style; some dotted, some dashed, etc. Of late, vehicles in Goa seem to be following the style of our neighboring states – no numbers on plates, but pictures of Gods, and favorite icons. Yes, you get to see this on the National Highways in the neighboring states.
How will the police get to follow, catch and penalize drivers of such vehicles if they commit an accident and run away? What will witnesses record to identify the vehicles? The other day, I saw two policemen looking at a four wheeler going past them without a number on their plate, but they did not even care to lift the whistle (if they had one), leave aside blowing it.
Similarly, some outstation vehicle drivers just don’t have a licence to show when asked, as I have witnessed on many an occasion. Recently there has been a spate of less than 18 year olds riding gearless bikes at top speeds. No one cares – don’t worry, be happy; as long as the work is done.
Another irritating and mentally disturbing aspect on all types of two-wheelers is the change of exhaust pipes / silencers. It has become a fancy for youngsters to get either some gadgets fixed or the original silencers changed on their bikes to make them sound “deadly” very badly. The loud noises that these vehicles produce is more than twice the sound admissible to the human ear.
Similarly the horns installed on all kinds of vehicles by disconnecting the original horns create an inadmissible noise pollution. These horns are blown even on small, narrow village roads between rows of houses on either side and even at very ungodly hours before dawn.
God bless Goans on Goan roads.
