On anaverage 300 people die every year in road accidents in the State. Even further,a small State like Goa has whopping 4,500 accidents per year, which shows thaton an average one accident takes place every two hours on Goan roads.
“Accidents and consequential deaths happenonly when the driver of a two or four wheeler is not attentive and vigilant,” saidArun Desai, Director of Transport. He advised the drivers to be more vigilantand attentive when they were behind the wheels.
As a run-upto the Safety Week “ to be celebrated from September 3 to 8 “ some startlingfacts have come to light which points to the increasingly grim road safetyscenario in the state.
Of the 7390road accidents that occurred last year, a whopping 36% involved two wheelerswhile 34% involved cars. The state has an estimated 5.27 lakh two wheelers and1.46 lakh private cars and jeeps, which means one accident for every 200 two-wheelerand one accident for every 59 cars.
The transportdirector opined that it was not only the enforcement by authorities thatensured that priceless human lives were not lost in road accidents. “The 3 E’sthat is Education to the road users and better road Engineering through PWD andEnforcement makes up for the complete road safety,” Desai informed.
The weeklong Road Safety Week will have training initiatives for drivers of privatebuses, taxis, auto-rickshaws, motorcycle pilots besides town based campaignsand rallies to spread awareness.
Safe drivingmethods including wearing of helmets, putting on of seat belts, avoiding rashand negligent driving, following road signals etc will also be systematicallyenforced through this week.
