Moses Pinto, traffic safety activist and author of ‘Practice Traffic Yoga’ gives his inputs on how to make the killer stretch safer.
Many times people don’t exercise enough personal accountability that is required while driving along any causeway. They are often assuming that they can speed as they imagine it to be a regular runway taking them to the city or out of the city.
The acceptance of the road width due to regular plying on that route by the people residing in Ribandar and Panjim City makes them vulnerable to the aspect that all is well and all will be well while speeding on that causeway back and forth.
Since it has been ages that they are using the causeway, and their familiarity with the Mandovi river and its natural mangrove habitat lining the causeway, road users never anticipate that there can be an occurrence of an accident or that they can themselves encounter an accident whereby they can fly with their vehicles after impact into the river and face injury or fatality.
The Ribandar Causeway has to be reinforced with extra concrete support thus widening it and making it safe and accessible till a new bridge or a parallel causeway is commissioned.
Guard Rails should be installed on both sides of the causeway which are of a height greater than or equivalent to the height of a regular 4-wheeler or SUV so that road users involved in a collision do not get flung over onto the river banks. Also, the raw material used to construct the guard rails should be an energy absorbing material which can sufficiently cushion the impact of an automobile against it.
The concept of ‘rubber-necking’ must be implemented so as to reduce accidents. It may be noted that this concept has been implemented along the Panaji approach road towards the KTC main bus stop as there are corrugated metal sheets (whether temporary or permanent) which have been erected along the length of the road. Similar metal sheets erected along the causeway can prevent accidents as the road users will not be distracted by the Mangrove plantations or the scenic view of the Mandovi River and therefore will be able to concentrate on maintaining their lane discipline and driving safely. Thus, reducing distractions along the causeway will have positive effects on the attentiveness of automobile drivers.
Speed limit of 40 km/hr should be strictly observed and imposed by the road traffic regulatory authority including the installation of Speed Strips at 200m intervals along the length of the causeway.
Banning all Goods Carriers and Transport Lorries such as Dump Trucks and Long Container Trailers which weigh above 3 tonnes.
The State Govt. under Sec. 138 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 has the power to make such rules and can therefore pass a Notification in the Gazette to that effect.
Installation of traffic signals at the entry and exit points between the two ends of the causeway will be an immediate solution if the implementation of the above mentioned measures are delayed. Traffic signals are also necessary to control the amount of vehicles the causeway deposits onto the exit roundabout near Panjim city and this will provide a traffic calming measure. Moreover, since the cause was commissioned in 1634, such an old structure cannot face the added weight of today’s automobiles travelling at high speeds and may collapse without warning, thereby resulting in a catastrophic loss of lives.
It is better to lose five minutes, than to lose life in five minutes. Hence, automobile drivers should drive slowly and cautiously as, alert
today alive tomorrow.
