Just when commuter thought it could not get any worse than this, given the daily traffic jams caused by the ongoing construction of work of the Zuari and Mandovi bridge, they now have to brace themselves for yet another obstacle on the roads.
The newly laid speed rumblers that were first placed on the recently widened and hot mixed Nuvem- Verna stretch of the national highway has seen vehicles of all sizes, come to a screeching halt as they navigate past these rumblers.
If they don’t, they are in for a rough ride with the vehicle’s suspension being affected and the human body experiencing a great deal of discomfort. Higher than the normal rumblers, it causes vehicles to jump up and down even if the vehicle is traveling slowly.
The commuters woes do not end there, these bunch of white strips, have been placed at short distances, one after the other, ensuring that a vehicle has to endure this throughout the stretch of the road.
It is ironical that if one had to take an alternate route, the Nuvem bypass, one would have to experience another type of nightmarish speed breaker that have caused vehicles great damage. Moreover, Salcete has seen the spread of multiple speed breakers, on the Verna- Loutolim route, Colva to Mobor Route, across Fatorda and other places that have been a bone of contention among residents, but the new type of speed breakers at Nuvem have been a cause of concern. This is because the same type of speedbreakers can now be seen in other parts of the highways across Goa, such as the one infront of Goa Medical College, (GMC) Bambolim and on the Porvorim- Mapusa stretch of the highway, all extremely busy routes.
“ There have been many cases of traffic jams this year, especially during peak hours and with the manner in which these speed breakers are forcing vehicles to stop is only going to increase the queue of vehicles and cause congestion ahead where the roads are narrow due to the bridge construction work. Sometimes these cars slow down suddenly upon seeing the speedbreakers and there have been cases where the vehicle behind this car rams into it. This only adds to the traffic chaos and risk to life and the car,” said Gustavo Rodrigues from Margao who commutes to Panjim everyday.
“Someone just has to travel on these roads to see what our complaints are about. It is now common to see a heavy vehicle that has broken down due to the damage caused by this speed breaker. For two wheelers in particular, these can even lead to an accident as it disturbs your balance completely, ” said Gopal Kamat, who works at the Verna Industrial Estate (IE).
“ I am all for the use of normal sized speed rumblers to decrease speeding and reducing the number of accidents but these speed rumblers are putting ones lives at risk and can cause accidents or damage to vehicles. Who will pay for these repairs? It can cause injury to your back. Who is responsible for that? , “said Shireen Monteiro, who also travels to work to the Verna IE.
A greater risk is at night where there has already been one occasion where the streetlights were not working and with no warning in plain visible sight, the commuters were inconvenienced greatly .
Government officials put this down to the national highway authorities with regard to the new directive about laying these type of speed rumblers.
