The last year was a good year for the traffic department, with closed circuit televisions proving to be a determining factor in catching out violators. Social media was another boon as well. Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, who is also the Home Minister, in one of his replies at the ongoing Assembly session, divulged that the police managed to capture 15, 744 traffic violations throughout 2015. Facebook contributed to this number, as 145 violations were reported via the social media site. There were people booked for driving drunk, 3675 to be exact.
All these numbers mean that the traffic police have certainly stepped up their vigilance efforts, looking to slowly nab violators across Goa. The department also has plans to cover Goa in CCTV cameras, a medium that has surely been successful thus far, and the cost for this is Rs 22.5 crore. A massive figure no doubt, but with the right system in place that cost can slowly be recovered. Goa has always been a state with a vast road cover, and good roads at that. Errant riders and drivers are abound and a minority do drive or ride with a large degree of lawlessness. The fact that almost 16,000 violations were recorded and the perpetrators nabbed, means that there is a problem. This problem is further exacerbated when one takes a look at the fatalities column. There were 304 deaths reported in 2014. In 2015, there were 308 deaths, vast majority of which were on the national highway and on internal roads. Therein lies the problem. There is a systemic failure when practically one in every 100 residents of Goa have committed a serious violation. Almost one death a day highlights this as well.
So where do we go from here? Vigilance and scrutiny is one thing, but perhaps there is a need to go down to the root of the issue. There needs to be far stricter licensing laws and a rigorous qualification system. An example could be made of America or England where different licenses are needed for different engine capacity motorbikes and a long process too when it comes to a driving license. But again, will this help a driver or rider when they start commuting? Goa’s roads are a jungle and every driver turns into a defensive driver or an instinctive one, instead of an orderly one. Here, we need deterrents in the shape of larger fines and more. A Rs 200 fine for rash driving doesn’t pinch. A Rs 1000 fine perhaps would.
All this will certainly work if awareness is created amongst the populace that commutes. However, the government also has a part to play in this. Goa’s roads needs to be laid out better, with accident prone zones negated and potholes and bumpy roads smoothened. A functioning mass transit system has to be put in place to curb drunk driving. Here, mere fines will not do. The taxi mafia have to be put in their place. One of the biggest reasons for so many vehicles on the road, a high per capita count, is the clear lack of mass transport.
The road from chaos to order will be gradual, and everything needs to fall in place for this to happen. You cannot have one without the other and it does take two hands to clap. All the technology in the world is useless in the face of a populace that doesn’t respect their fellow motorists.
