ABEL P BARRETTO
CANACONA: Barely three days after a truck met with an accident on the National Highway at Karmal Ghat in Canacona, another met with the same fate around the same location, perhaps due to improper traffic signs, warning motorists of the dangerous bends and curves ahead.
A multi-axle truck carrying coal from Mangalore Port to an industrial unit at Cuncolim veered off the road while trying to save an LPG tanker that was attempting to overtake on a blind curve at Karmal Ghat in the wee hours of Friday.
It may be recalled that on Tuesday another multi-axle truck carrying coal from Mangalore to Goa burst its tyre on Ordhofond Bridge on the National Highway and narrowly escaped plunging into the river below.
The truck, bearing registration number KA-30-8526 that was proceeding towards Cuncolim suddenly came across an empty LPG gas tanker that was overtaking another tanker on a dangerous blind turn and in a bid to avoid a head-on collision the driver veered away from the oncoming tanker, lost control of the vehicle and landed in a roadside ditch.
Though the driver escaped without any injuries, the ill-fated truck suffered damages on the other side.
Such incidents have become frequent in the area, also because on improper and non-existing traffic signage, informing motorists about the perils ahead. Of course, the recklessness of the drivers, inclement weather, lack of street lights and lack of proper highway patrol and traffic management too are among the reasons of frequent road accidents in the dangerous ghar area.
Motorists often complain that due to proper police patrol the truckers often do not follow lane discipline and can be seen driving on the wrong side of the road to avoid bad roads or while overtaking.
There are also instances when the truck driver is either drunk or drowsy and switch off the engines and drive in neutral gear to save petrol, risking not only the lives of other motorists and pedestrians, but also their own.
Unfortunately the government too can be blamed for faulty road engineering and improper road management.
Motorists that frequent these parts of the National Highway have registered numerous complaints to the Highway authorities and local government authorities to widen the road and implement various precautionary methods, but all seem to have fallen on deaf ears.
People living on either sides of Karmal Ghat too have approached various authorities to widen the road, specially on accident-prone bends and install signage, warning of dangers ahead as early as possible to minimise accidents occurring on this section of the highway.
