The Goan Network
PANAJI
Director General of Goa Police, Dr Muktesh Chander raised alarm bells over the high rate of road accidents in the State even as Goa's traffic police flagged off yet another Road Safety Week on Monday.
Dr Chander, said Goa is in red zone in India for deaths related to road accidents, which means that the percentage of people dying in the state due to road accidents is much higher than the national average.
DGP Chander further informed that every 3 days, 2 people die in Goa due to road accidents. Not just that, he also said that Goa is in red zone for suicide related deaths too. Meanwhile, he also informed that Puducherry has the highest suicide rate and highest proportion of deaths due to road accidents in the country.
DGP Chander was speaking at India Fire and Security Yatra 2016, which took place at Taj Vivanta in Panaji. This event, organised by Goa chapter of Fire and Security Association of India (FSAI), was aimed at increasing awareness about accidents, which can take place due to fire or any other reason.
DGP Chander said, “So many accidents happen due to open sewers, not replacing gas tubes and now there is a new trend of selfies, which also have caused accidents. Someone asked me if we can have ‘No Selfie Zones’ in Goa, but how many such zones can we have? It is for individuals to take precaution. We often see people walking on the road, not looking ahead but texting on their mobiles".
Lamenting also about the inability of education system to train students about fire safety and accident prevention, DGP Chander said, “We are producing engineers, doctors and people with all kinds of degrees. What we are producing is package (salary) earning machines. Ask an engineer and he wouldn’t know what to do in case of an accident.”
He also said that Indian law is not harsh enough on people, who cause damage due to negligent behaviour. He said, “Under Indian law, you can get a bail if you have caused a death due to negligence, but in other countries like the US, the punishment tends to be far stricter.”
