Team Herald
PANJIM: The 17-year-old boy, who probably, was drunk, out of his senses or not fit to be behind the wheel of a car, with beer bottles on his feet, is at a home where delinquents are sent, his year of birth, showing him to be a minor, a fig leaf of protection against him being behind bars.
About 20-km away from where his home is, a funeral procession entered the Chicalim church, with the 50-year-old victim, of the drunk boy’s wild drunken driving, in a coffin, sent on this untimely journey by a boy unfit to be let loose in civil society, behind the wheels of any vehicle.
Reema Gonsalves was buried on Monday evening. But there will be no rest to the body, soul and minds of those she has left behind. News reports have said that her life was cut short. But in reality, the lives of those she leaves behind have been made poorer, for life. Joaquim, her husband, sons Jamie and Nathan, and her siblings and their families have had their future ripped apart, their own lives choked, a bend on the road far more traffic than the turn near the St Jacinto Island where her scooter was knocked down by the speeding Maruti Ertiga driven by the “minor” maniac on the wheel.
Goans are clear when they say that these are not accidents but murders.
Seby Noronha from Margao said, “These “accidents” which are actually “culpable homicides”, one could even call them “murders”, get simply closed as accident cases. And the murderers get away scot-free, leaving the families and loved ones of the deceased, to grieve in helplessness.”
“The law is not designed to distinguish between whether the incident was an “accident” in the real sense of the word, or whether it was an incident resulting out of the sheer negligence, recklessness, and arrogance of the offenders,” said Noronha.
“The Chicalim tragic fatal accident should be a lesson to all parents, who think their minor child is good driver or rider. It looks like our Government is not serious about road accidents and fatalities. We will have to wait and watch for the government’s announcement on December 1, 2022 about the short-term and long-term road safety measures to be taken following suggestions made by the public during the Road Safety Management Open Forum at Panjim last month,” said Dilip Naik, Convenor of Goa Road Safety Forum.
Roland Martins, Coordinator of GOACAN, an NGO which is crusading for safer roads in a public message said, “Let us pledge that we will not forget how Reena Gonsalves lost her life and commit to working for road safety in the villages and towns of Goa.”
“Taking the campaign against road accidents a step further, the GOACAN starting from December 1 will launch a special campaign for “Parents to Say No to Underage Driving”. Further bars and retail liquor shops must say “no sale of alcohol to children”, he added.
