On Sunday morning, Goa woke up to the horrific news of a car crash that took the lives of three young adults while two others are battling for life in what was described by the police as “prima facie a self-accident”.
CCTV footage of the incident that has subsequently surfaced indicates that the ill-fated car being driven at speed was attempting to squeeze through, two slower moving cars that were occupying both lanes of the one-way road at Porvorim near the Teen Building bus stop and in doing so the driver lost control of the vehicle and crashed sideways into a tree leading to the fatalities. This is the second serious accident in the state in a span of a few weeks and demands that questions be asked of the state of traffic management in the State that is leading to such frequent fatalities.
The Director General of Police (DGP), in comments made a few weeks ago, rightly pointed out that the process of issuing a driving licence needs to be more stringent. Many drivers at the time of learning are only taught and tested for how to correctly control their vehicle -- understanding of traffic flow, of road signages are either not taught or not emphasised during the process of granting a driving licence. The DGP called for more stringent licence issuing systems -- pointing out that it was beyond the scope of the Goa Police to regulate how licences are issued. Road safety is a multi-disciplinary and multi-stakeholders task including civil society. Teachers and parents can play a very positive role in this, the DGP had said.
Sunday night’s accident could have been prevented if the driver of the car was a little patient -- a trait that is in short supply among the adolescent and the young -- with waiting until it was safe to overtake.
The CCTV footage indicates that the car in front of him that he was trying to overtake was occupying the right side lane of the one way road, otherwise referred to as the overtaking lane. A lane that one should not be driving in unless overtaking another vehicle.
More often than not, slow moving vehicles including heavy vehicles happily shift themselves in the fast lane no matter how slow they are travelling forcing faster moving vehicles to overtake them from the left -- making conditions ripe for an accident to take place.
That said, the police who primarily concern themselves with issuing challans against violators who are breaking the law either because they are not wearing helmets or seatbelts really need to do better when it comes to dangerous driving.
Offences such as over-speeding are tracked only where the police are likely to find the highest number of violators per session -- spots such as bridges where the speed limit is very low. There is absolutely no enforcement of traffic rules when it comes to dangerous parking along highways, driving in the wrong lane, driving on the wrong side of highways and other behaviour that frequently causes high risk situations. While making the licence issuing process more stringent is necessary, there is equally a need for better enforcement.
