PANAJI
Concerned about growing number of road mishaps in the State, the Transport Department has decided to focus on road safety management and will spend Rs 1.81 crore to purchase speed interceptor vehicles, radar guns and alcometers.
The State has been witnessing an alarming rise in the number of accidents, prompting the Transport Department to take decisive measures to curb road mishaps.
Director of Transport Rajan Satardekar said the Transport Department will stress on road safety management and bring about discipline among those who ride or drive vehicles.
Rs 68 lakh for interceptor vehicles:
“The transport department has decided to purchase Maruti Ertiga Interceptor vehicles to keep watch on the speed of vehicles. Three such vehicles will be purchased at a cost of about Rs 23 lakh each. These vehicles will be given to the police,” said Satardekar.
“One vehicle will be kept at South Goa, another in North Goa and one will remain at the police headquarters. The vehicles will have features like radar gun, screen, alcometer etc. The vehicle will cost Rs 7.65 lakh and the equipment will cost Rs 15 lakh. The total expense on each interceptor vehicles will be Rs 22.65 lakh.”
Rs 24.5 lakh for 50 alcometers:
Stating that drunken driving is one of the main causes of accidents, Satardekar said the Traffic Police had started a campaign against those who drink and drive.
“Fifty alcometers to check if the driver is drunk will be purchased at a cost of Rs 24.5 lakh. Besides these 50 alcometers, 20 more alcometers will be purchased for the Kadamba Transport Corporation Ltd at a cost of Rs 9.8 lakh,” said Satardekar.
Rs 80 lakh for 8 speed radar guns:
To keep a check on the speed of vehicles, the transport department will purchase eight speed radar guns with night vision at a cost of Rs 80 lakh.
“The Tripod mountable radar gun will be mobile and can be taken anywhere. These radar guns will also allow for testing in the dark and at night. While the current speed guns do not work well during the rains, the new speed radar guns can be used during the rains," said Satardekar.
Focus on road safety:
Satardekar said the transport department will stress on road safety before working on the traffic management structure.
“Road safety education, implementation of remedial programmes, road engineering and emergency system are four sectors to be emphasised. The structure would be implemented with the coordination of police, health and PWD department.”
“The police have offered as many as 6,000 suggestions to the Transport Department to control accidents. The Traffic Police claims that 80% of the suggestions have not been implemented. There are on an average nine accidents per day.”
Meanwhile, data has revealed that North Goa district police have booked 3522 cases under Motor Vehicle Act in the last 10 days.
Police have undertaken special drives to crack down on traffic violators on the backdrop of rising accidents in the state. Maximum, i.e. 449 traffic violations were booked under Bicholim police station followed by Colvale with 438 violations. Surprisingly, least violations (167) have been reported from the busy Porvorim roads.
