PANAJI
Stating that the road safety is top-most priority of the government, Director General of Police Alok Kumar on Tuesday said that the aim is to reduce the road accident fatalities by 20 per cent in 2025.
Addressing the 8th UN Global Road Safety Week, Director General of Police Alok Kumar said that in Goa, while 25-30 murders occur annually, on average over 350 people die in road accidents every year. He said that the data is worrying and an effort should be made to bring in necessary behavioural changes.
He also pointed out to the alarming scale of road accidents in India, wherein over 1.5 lakh people die in crashes annually, with the 20-40 age groups being most affected.
“We have set the target to reduce road accident fatalities by 20 per cent this year. This reduction will require a behavioural shift at the community level. Behaviour change is the key if we want to reduce accidental deaths on roads,” Kumar said, while highlighting the urgent need to instil road discipline from a young age.
“If we educate children about road behaviour early on, we won’t need to keep talking about it to adults in their 50s,” he commented.
The DGP also noted how strict licensing systems, stringent enforcement, and widespread surveillance contribute to lower accident rates in other countries. “Unless people are trained to behave properly on roads, they don’t get a licence there. If the community wants, we can make a change. Let us work together to bring the change.”
The event ‘Empowering Traffic Wardens for Safety on Roads’, was jointly organised by the Goa Traffic Police, Directorate of Transport and GOACAN on Tuesday.
Director of Transport, Pravimal Abhishek, echoed the sentiment, stressing the need for inter-departmental coordination. “Road safety is a shared responsibility, not just of the traffic police or the transport department, but also of electricity, health and other departments,” he said.
Abhishek also detailed the recently notified Road Safety Policy available in the official government gazette. A major highlight is the emphasis on technology, including vehicle certification automation and AI integration for traffic violation detection. “Most vehicle certifications are still manual. Under the new policy, this process must be fully automated with no human interference,” he added.
GOACAN convenor Roland Martins advocated for decentralised road safety efforts through local traffic management committees and stronger emergency response.
