As per the latest figures released by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, more than 138,000 people were killed on Indian roads in 2016 due to the fault of the driver, making the country deadliest in terms road accidents.
With these startling figures, the main doubt is ‘if the licensing authority is very lenient in issuing driving licences and allowing untrained and unsafe drivers on the roads.’
“In India or even for that matter Goa, the driving licence norms are meagre as compared to other European countries, where people hardly clear the driving test. In Goa we have to make an eight while giving a test. If you can make an eight it just does not mean that you can drive properly or you know the rules completely. The department must make licensing norms strict, they should really focus on whether the driver is perfect,” said Vivek Malik, a Goan, residing in the UK.
The statistics available with the Goa Traffic Police shows that there is a marginal rise in fines levied on under age drivers without licence, 187 people were fined in 2016 as compared to 119 in the previous year.
If we have a look at the European countries, getting a driving license is a costly affair and only a minimal 40 percent of the applicants clear the tests are issued licensees but the case in India is different and majority of the applicants are issued licensees and as a result of this these majority of the road accidents are caused due to the driver not completely familiar on perfect driving skills and rules as a result of lack of training and easy driving tests.
It is very well known that the process of issuing driving licences is extremely liberal and nobody fails the tests conducted by RTO to obtain a learning and permanent driving licence. It is also seen that all the driving schools only teach very basic skills of moving the vehicle and not a proper way of safe driving.
Another citizen and off-roader Mahesh Kirtani had to say this “The tests conducted by RTO do not check such knowledge and skills. As a result, every day RTO gives licences and adds hundreds of people to the traffic, many of whom have poor knowledge about traffic rules and carry potentially dangerous driving habits. Only a person with proper knowledge about traffic rules and skills to drive a vehicle safely should get a driving license from RTO.”
However, it is obvious that many accidents can be avoided if the process of issuing driving licenses is made far stricter. One common excuse given for not doing this is that there is a huge load of applicants. However, nobody should disagree that the Safety of people on roads is far more important. Government should add the resources to RTO to ensure this, he added.
Speaking to Herald, GOACAN Coordinator Roland Martins said “The government is the process amending a new motor vehicle act in which 89 amendments are present which include increase in penalties, strict driving license norms and other stricter laws. It is correct that in India, there are no so much strict laws for issuing driving licences like other developed countries and that is the main cause for accidents as the drivers do not have knowledge.”
Meanwhile, the traffic authorities need to be much more vigilant in enforcing rules as more and more accidents are a result of ignorance and neglect and one such example is not wearing of helmets at all times.
According to locals, wearing of helmets is very much necessary as it gives them some amount of safety during accidents as it keeps the head safe from injuries.
“In majority accident cases the rider is not wearing a helmet, this is what we have observed. The damage can severely come down if a rider wears a helmet .Helmets bring down the risk of brain injury while the risk of death is more among riders without helmet,” said 108 ambulance officials on duty.
Meanwhile, it of the view that once new traffic act comes into effect, it would drastically bring down offences considerably as driving without helmet will cost a rider Rs 1,000 fine and disqualification of his licence for three months.
“The authorities should act on riders for not wearing a helmet and the rule should be strictly implemented. In 2015 the authorities acted very well but soon after that it has also vanished. The government should also install CCTV cameras to capture such riders without helmets. Until there is strict implementation, nothing is going to work and mishaps will happen” said Anirudha Bhaje, a resident of Taleigao.
Deputy Superintendent of Police (Traffic), Dharmesh Angle said “There is new motor vehicle act amendment which has all the strict laws but we exactly do not know when it will be implemented. We had asked the government for installation of CCTV cameras across the city, but till now we have not got them.”
