The 14th Goa Road Safety Week has concluded with various activities held in schools for students and in villages along the roads. Everyone spoke about the importance of being safe while travelling on Goan roads.
Since the PWD and other concerned engineers have not been able to provide safe road designs, it is better to educate young students to take care of their own safety and for parents to stay cautious. Expecting safer roads in Goa seems unrealistic at this stage.
Take the example of a parent standing on the zebra crossing at Siolim, on MDR 10 near Rai, opposite Keerti Vidyalaya School, waiting to cross the road to pick up his child. There are no zebra crossing signboards, and fast-moving vehicles”especially tourists in rented cars”do not even realise that a school and a zebra crossing are nearby.
It is important to fix proper signboards and install zebra crossing traffic signals as approved in the GPDP. However, the Departments of Planning and Transport seem to be taking little action. In Siolim, on both MDR 5 and MDR 10, crossing at a zebra crossing remains a risk.
