ASHLEY DO ROSARIO
PANAJI
A few days ago, a 54-year-old woman lost her life while crossing the highway at Karaswada, Mapusa -- Kavali Chavan, a migrant from Uttar Pradesh who had made Goa her home, was hit by a speeding car.
She never made it across the road.
For most people, it was another accident report, a few lines in the news, and a statistic in a police file.
But for Mr Chavan, who earns his bread selling vegetables, Kavali was his homemaker, and for the entire Chavan family, that moment when they discovered she was dead, changed life forever.
That is why the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, observed on Sunday, matters and reminds that every accident victim had a name, a family, a routine and dreams for the future.
But road crashes have become so frequent here in Goa, that they rarely shock anyone, anymore unless the victim is a relative or acquaintance. But they should.
Consider Goa's numbers.
Upward of 2,600 road accidents and 280 deaths were recorded in 2024, according to official road safety data. That translated to nearly one life lost every 30 hours on the State's roads.
The trend continues to remain worrying.
Available data shows that between January 1 and November 8 this year, Goa has had 2,268 accidents and 229 deaths, with fatalities higher than during the corresponding period in 2025.
While all these accidents, even when fatalities are involved, will at best evoke outrage and angry banter directed at authorities and politicians on social media for a day or two.
But, it is an undeniably truth that behind every one of those numbers, there is a story: a parent who never returned home. A student whose future was cut short. A breadwinner whose family is left struggling. A retiree who stepped out for a routine errand and never came back. So on and so forth.
The tragedy is that many of these deaths are preventable. Overspeeding, distracted driving, drunken driving, road engineering defects and poor road etiquette continue to claim lives.
Often, as in the case of Kavali Chavan at Karasvada, pedestrians struggle with inadequate crossings, poor lighting and missing footpaths. Highways cut through residential areas where people cross roads every day simply to reach schools, markets and bus stops.
The possible corrections for road safety are many but hardly anyone bothers.
In Goa, for nearly two decades, civic and consumer rights organisation GOACAN has been trying to ensure that these victims are not forgotten.
According to Roland Martins, GOACAN has organised World Day of Remembrance programmes across Goa since 2009, including in Mapusa, Vasco, Margao and Panaji, while encouraging consumer forums, welfare clubs and road safety committees to observe the day in schools, colleges and villages.
This year, though, the organisation took a different approach on Sunday. Instead of public programmes and events, families of victims were encouraged to observe the day at home and discuss road safety.
"Road safety cannot be a topic discussed only after a tragedy occurs. It has to become part of everyday conversations around the dining table and do's and don'ts for road safety must become a habitual part of our everyday lives," Martins told The Goan.
Martins points out that road accident deaths in Goa occur at the alarming rate of roughly one every 30 hours. He says, he hopes that observing the day at a personal level will create greater awareness and encourage safer behaviour on the roads.
