A rent-a-cab driven by a tourist was reportedly stuck in the sand at Benaulim beach on Friday morning, prompting the tourist police to penalise the driver and arrange for the removal of the vehicle. Driving on the beach is prohibited by law since beaches are out of bounds for vehicles. The tourist later claimed that his GPS navigation had directed him there. This must be considered a flimsy excuse for breaking the law. Nobody follows the GPS without looking at the way ahead. If the vehicle had not got stuck in the sand, would the tourist have followed the GPS and driven into the sea? Will someone follow GPS navigation and drive over a cliff? The tourist said that there was no signboard saying that vehicles were prohibited on the beach. Given the long stretches of the beaches in Goa, it is next to impossible to have a signboard at every point. Even some form of barricading of the beachfront is not possible, as the tourist seems to have suggested. He was ready to pay the fine, as the penalty of five thousand is peanuts for these tourists. This money may have been utilised by the authorities to pay the labourers who were called in to assist with pulling the vehicle out. In this way, we could only be encouraging tourists to break the rules by assisting them in the recovery of the vehicle. In the past, there have been instances of tourists driving their vehicles on Morjim beach, which is a protected nesting site for the endangered Olive Ridley sea turtles. This will cause irreparable damage to the ecosystem, and the culprit will get away with a minor penalty. More severe punishments like impounding the vehicle, hefty fines, and even withholding the driving licence for a few days may be necessary. These tourists are taking the law enforcement agency in the state for granted. They seem to disobey the rules on purpose, which needs to end.
