The blood bath on Goa’s “killer” roads has signalled a grim situation for road safety in the State, with concerned citizens and groups dubbing the State as “accident capital”, blaming the poor standards of driving schools in Goa and inadequate tests by RTO inspectors, resulting in licences being issued indiscriminately.
They have also highlighted that the road safety engineering standards are below IRC guidelines and law enforcement is virtually non-existent.
It is pertinent to note that in a tragic head-on collision on the Bethora Highway on Thursday, July 10, 2025, last, two young riders lost their lives and two others were grievously injured when their scooters collided near the Bethora-Kannewal junction.
The accident occurred when Aditya Desai (21), a resident of Bethora, who was reportedly riding his scooter in the wrong lane for nearly two kilometres, rammed into an oncoming scooterist Isha Gawas (22) from Kelwada, Sattari. Both riders were declared dead on arrival at the Ponda Sub District Hospital.
Yogesh Patil (22) from Sapna Park, Ponda, who was riding with Aditya, and Aditi Manjrekar (22) from Tulshimal, Parye — sustained serious injuries and were rushed to Goa Medical College and Hospital, Bambolim for further treatment.
On Tuesday, July 8, 2025, a two-wheeler rider Narayan Abhyankar, a resident of Colvale, who served as Under Secretary in the State’s Law Department, lost his life after coming under the wheels of a passenger bus near the flyover at Guirim.
Even on Sunday, July 13, 2025, an SUV overturned onto two two-wheelers on the highway at Corlim, injuring at least two persons. Local residents quickly responded and helped shift the injured to a nearby hospital for urgent medical attention.
These are not the isolated cases wherein young lives have been lost. Last year, the state had reported 286 fatalities from 2,682 accidents State-wide and alarmingly, over 45 percent of those killed were youths under the age of 35. The 25–35 age group witnessed 63 fatalities (22.02 percent) and 315 injuries, while the 18–25 age bracket recorded 61 deaths (21.32 percent) and 224 injuries. Among children under 18, six deaths were reported along with 21 injuries.
According to a recent data shared by the Police Department, the State reportedly witnessed 50 per rise in fatal road accidents and 40 per cent rise in road deaths from the first quarter of the year to the second quarter.
A fatal road accident refers to a road traffic incident that results in death while a road death specifically quantifies the number of fatalities resulting from these accidents.
In the first quarter of the year, the State had recorded a 23 per cent dip in fatal road accidents and a 25 per dip in road deaths.
Reacting to the number of accidents and fatalities, Roland Martins, Co-ordinator, GOACAN said, taking cognisance of the many deaths of youth due to road accidents, GOACAN is of the firm opinion that there has to be a two pronged approach while creating awareness on road safety.
“On the one hand Road Safety Patrols (RSP) have to be set up in all educational institutions. This will ensure that Road Safety Awareness activities are taken up vigorously for the students on the campus. This could be in collaboration with the NSS, NCC & CWC. On the other hand the village panchayats and municipal councils must get their Road Safety & Traffic Management Committees to organise awareness activities for the youth in collaboration with the service clubs and NGOs,” he said.
Martins said the forthcoming State Road Safety Week in September offers a good opportunity for many new initiatives to be launched with the target audience being students and youth.
Goa Road Safety Forum president Dilip Naik, said, “A dedicated department for road safety is the need of the hour. He recalled that in 2022, he had suggested to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to appoint a Road Safety Commissioner on the lines of other States like Kerala but there is no progress yet.”
“On October 4, 2022, I had suggested to the Chief Minister to appoint a Road Safety Commissioner on the lines of other States like Kerala. He had promised to look into the matter but after that there is no progress. At least I am not aware,” he said.
Naik pointed out that driving licence remains a key issue as the standard of driving school in Goa is below minimum required.
“RTO inspectors do not seem to be serious on testing new drivers. Licences are given to anyone. Road Safety Engineering standards are much below IRC standards. Enforcement is as good as not there in Goa. Only good news is that the government is going to fix dashcams on its vehicles,” he said.
“Better thing would have been to come out with schemes like Traffic Sentinel, allow the public to install dashcam and pay them 50 % of the fine collected. If this is done then no one will dare to do any violation in Goa,” he said.
According to former bureaucrat Elvis Gomes, the State has become the accident capital of the country as it has the highest number of road accidents.
“The number of accidents in Goa has not increased suddenly. We had raised the issues in 2021, but nothing has changed so far. The Government of India circular on highways talks about a lot of things but none of them are implemented. The government is failing to control the situation. The accident rate in Goa is the highest in the country. Goa has practically become the accident capital,” Gomes said.
Even on Sunday, July 13, 2025, an SUV overturned onto two two-wheelers on the highway at Corlim, injuring at least two persons. Local residents quickly responded and helped shift the injured to a nearby hospital for urgent medical attention.
These are not the isolated cases wherein young lives have been lost. Last year, the state had reported 286 fatalities from 2,682 accidents State-wide and alarmingly, over 45 percent of those killed were youths under the age of 35. The 25–35 age group witnessed 63 fatalities (22.02 percent) and 315 injuries, while the 18–25 age bracket recorded 61 deaths (21.32 percent) and 224 injuries. Among children under 18, six deaths were reported along with 21 injuries.
According to a recent data shared by the Police Department, the State reportedly witnessed 50 per rise in fatal road accidents and 40 per cent rise in road deaths from the first quarter of the year to the second quarter.
A fatal road accident refers to a road traffic incident that results in death while a road death specifically quantifies the number of fatalities resulting from these accidents.
In the first quarter of the year, the State had recorded a 23 per cent dip in fatal road accidents and a 25 per dip in road deaths.
Reacting to the number of accidents and fatalities, Roland Martins, Co-ordinator, GOACAN said, taking cognisance of the many deaths of youth due to road accidents, GOACAN is of the firm opinion that there has to be a two pronged approach while creating awareness on road safety.
“On the one hand Road Safety Patrols (RSP) have to be set up in all educational institutions. This will ensure that Road Safety Awareness activities are taken up vigorously for the students on the campus. This could be in collaboration with the NSS, NCC & CWC. On the other hand the village panchayats and municipal councils must get their Road Safety & Traffic Management Committees to organise awareness activities for the youth in collaboration with the service clubs and NGOs,” he said.
Martins said the forthcoming State Road Safety Week in September offers a good opportunity for many new initiatives to be launched with the target audience being students and youth.
Goa Road Safety Forum president Dilip Naik, said, “A dedicated department for road safety is the need of the hour. He recalled that in 2022, he had suggested to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to appoint a Road Safety Commissioner on the lines of other States like Kerala but there is no progress yet.”
“On October 4, 2022, I had suggested to the Chief Minister to appoint a Road Safety Commissioner on the lines of other States like Kerala. He had promised to look into the matter but after that there is no progress. At least I am not aware,” he said.
Naik pointed out that driving licence remains a key issue as the standard of driving school in Goa is below minimum required.
“RTO inspectors do not seem to be serious on testing new drivers. Licences are given to anyone. Road Safety Engineering standards are much below IRC standards. Enforcement is as good as not there in Goa. Only good news is that the government is going to fix dashcams on its vehicles,” he said.
“Better thing would have been to come out with schemes like Traffic Sentinel, allow the public to install dashcam and pay them 50 % of the fine collected. If this is done then no one will dare to do any violation in Goa,” he said.
According to former bureaucrat Elvis Gomes, the State has become the accident capital of the country as it has the highest number of road accidents.
“The number of accidents in Goa has not increased suddenly. We had raised the issues in 2021, but nothing has changed so far. The Government of India circular on highways talks about a lot of things but none of them are implemented. The government is failing to control the situation. The accident rate in Goa is the highest in the country. Goa has practically become the accident capital,” Gomes said.