Road accidents continue to snatch lives in Goa. Between Tuesday night and Wednesday, four people died in accidents across the State, and 13 were injured. A one-year-old child had a miraculous escape while his parents died as their scooter came under the rear wheels of a tipper truck at Supachi Pud in Harvalem-Sanquelim. In another accident, a 3-year-old girl sustained serious injuries while her father died in a head-on collision in Mapusa. In yet another accident, a fish-laden truck rammed into a nearby kiosk in Kundaim, killing a 32-year-old labourer from West Bengal.
Accidents continue unabated, and precious lives are lost due to road violations or poor road works. Sadly, the road tragedies have failed to ignite a sense of awakening in authorities. The silence is deafening. Interestingly, last month Transport Minister Mauvin Godinho, instead of addressing the cause of accidents, announced a simplified screening and disbursal process for compensation to accident victims' families days after three deaths were reported in a single day.
There has been a muted response to the spate of accidents that have been happening across the State for months. While the government is silent about initiatives, the much-spoken about road safety policy continues to be relegated to the files.
A cursory look at the accident scene shows that while the road infrastructure has improved significantly, the traffic density has also gone up beyond 45 per cent, which has become the primary cause of the high frequency. In addition, statistics from a national survey show that 45.2 per cent of Goan households own a car while 86.7 per cent of households have a two-wheeler.
The problem, however, is not restricted to vehicle density alone. A host of issues remain unaddressed, and the few initiatives taken lacked seriousness and intent. For example, in October 2022, the police department constituted a 3-member committee headed by IGP Omvir Singh Bishnoi, DIG Aslam Khan and SP Shekhar Prabhudessai. The team was tasked with studying the issue, suggesting measures to reduce or prevent accidents, and submitting a report within 30 days. But, ironically, one of the team members was transferred in less than a fortnight, even before the team got their hands on the job.
Road safety revolves around the Es ” Education, Engineering, Enforcement and Emergency Services and Care. Education takes a pole position because this is where discipline comes in and takes care of the reckless driving part. But on the other hand, road engineering has been faulty and continues to be ignored, despite the loss of lives in accident-prone zones like the one in Kundaim.
If the government is seriously eyeing a 50 per cent decline in road accidents by 2030, as mentioned in the road safety policy, then there has to be a clear focus on all four Es. Right now, it is almost zero. The government must assess the situation periodically, set goals year-on-year, review them and introspect on failures instead of waiting for the problem to ease off till 2030 on its own.
We must learn lessons sooner. European countries like Norway, Sweden and Switzerland have drastically reduced their accident rates thanks to strict vehicular regulations and other safety features, including stability controls. These countries have an accident rate of 4 per 1 lakh people. In India, 1.5 lakh people die on the roads, translating into an average of 1130 accidents and 422 deaths daily.
It's high time departments like transport, PWD, and police swing into collaborative action. There has to be a concrete plan to make Goan roads safer for vehicular traffic.
