Authorities appear to give little or no importance to traffic discipline in the port town. For instance Zebra-crossings (street crossings) are described as those areas where pedestrians have ‘right of the way’, but at Vasco it has become a ‘fright of the way’, as pedestrians struggle to cross the major roads each day
It is one of the hallmarks of any developed city, but traffic discipline largely depends on the presence and enforcement of various traffic signs and indications.
At Vasco, however, some traffic signs have been given little or no importance, even though they could be a matter of life and death for a different section of road users.
Zebra-crossings (street crossings) are described as those areas where pedestrians have ‘right of the way’, but at Vasco it has become a ‘fright of the way’, as pedestrians struggle to cross the major roads each day.
Even though schools educate students on the purpose of zebra-crossings, they mean little to pedestrians as well as motorists, most of whom are clueless on the use of the diagonal stripes.
Rules by the transport department stipulate that motorists must immediately halt even if a single pedestrian is seen crossing the road. However, motorists almost never consider the right (and need) of the pedestrian to cross the roads and invariably ignore the few zebra-crossings in the city.
The apathy of authorities is also being blamed for the disappearance of the few zebra-crossings in the city. Some areas which were earlier marked with a zebra-crossing included the traffic islands near Vasco railway station, fish market and near St Andrew’s Church. But during the tarring of the road, virtually no attempt was made to paint the road with these white diagonal lines.
“It takes me almost 10 minutes to cross a 6-metre wide road,” explains Henry Mascarenhas. “All people seem to be in a hurry and in this chaos, it is the pedestrian who suffers the most. I’ve noticed that even when a person rightfully uses the crossing, the motorist abuses the person for walking on the road. The situation on the roads in Vasco is deteriorating with each passing day.”
Added another resident, Kapil Tuemkar, “On many occasions, it has been seen that even when the crossing is marked on the road near Dabolim airport, motorists halt either over the crossing or ahead of it. Law enforcement agencies should impose a fine on those motorists who ignore those pedestrians who walk on a zebra-crossing as well as those pedestrians who skip the zebra-crossing and walk on unmarked roads.”
Education on traffic discipline has also hit a roadblock. According to sources, the traffic police would provide field training to scouts and guides during the road safety week. However, such a task has been forgotten by both police and authorities in recent years.
When contacted, Mormugao Deputy Collector Gaurish Shankhwalkar admitted that zebra-crossings across the roads near junctions would help pedestrians to cross the road in an organised and safe manner, instead of walking all over the road.
“Zebra-crossings will act as a deterrent to the two-wheelers and four-wheelers which speed across the junction. The South Goa collector has also recommended marking of the zebra crossings at major junctions.”
“I will get in touch with the Mormugao Municipal Council and will urge them to mark zebra-crossings at all major junctions in the city for the safety of pedestrians” added Shankwalkar.
