Ten years ago, the need for a Handbook on Road Safety Measures for Goa was incepted when I along with my co-authors had conducted an on-the-ground field study about the reckless scenario in which the Goan Road Reality was culminating and lives of road users were facing enhanced risks while using the road. Consequently, in 2014, my Book titled: Practice Traffic Yoga was published by Broadway Publications, with hopes of generating enhanced road safety awareness in the state of Goa.
Fast forward to 2024, and the first few weeks of January have already demonstrated the blood thirsty enticement that Goan roads offer to reckless road users.
The alarming trend of road deaths in the State only displays an upward spiral as opposed to the intended down trajectory desirable when implementing road safety measures. In the Book: Practice Traffic Yoga (2014), it was estimated that at the time of gathering the data on the number of vehicles being registered in the State, Goa had 613 motor vehicles per 1000 people. If Goa was a country, it would rank 15th in the world for the number of vehicles it has per 1000 people as the State ranked 15th in the world as per World Bank Institute 2010 rankings.
With so many new automobiles being registered in the tiny state of Goa, the laws of physics would dictate that when two objects possessing mass are moving at a velocity while gaining momentum, collision is invariably imminent when there occurs a difference in their speed notwithstanding the direction in which the two objects are moving. Goan roads have now become dual purposed in serving as laboratories for testing the laws of physics with the vulnerable road users becoming the involuntary participants.
In regards to Road Safety planning, the unspoken truth still looms behind the shadows of bureaucracy wherein PWD Engineers who have no formal training and experience in road infrastructure and safety design are the responsible signatories for approving important plans for constructing road infrastructure in the State.
The superior knowledge of the Traffic Cells functioning in the State have rarely been tapped into while designing new road safety strategies for the state’s roads.
The richness of insights that a traffic police personnel can provide in the form of observations pertaining to accident prone areas is immensely relevant especially with respect to the propensity of neglectful road users to disregard a certain caution sign, or to over-speed at a specific stretch of the road, the unquantified knowledge in the minds of the traffic cell personnel represents the plethora of prudence which can help save lives on the road. Unfortunately, suggestions are never invited from these ‘foot soldiers’ who have personally witnessed the tragedies that constitute the Goan Road Reality.
The next invaluable resource would be inputs from the immediate community where the stretch of road is located while planning the implementation of road safety measures in Goa.
Road Safety must not be viewed as an elitist road engineering endeavour, especially when the safety measures are being intended to preserve the life of the common man. The opinions and suggestions of the community members should be taken into account.
According to the Africa Transport Policy Program (SSATP) in their Template for Community Participation In Traffic Safety: “A lesson many countries are gradually learning is the need for community participation in improving traffic safety. Similar to other areas of public health, ‘top down’ intervention alone can have limited effectiveness, whereas community partnership promotes a sense of ownership, which has so often proven to be key to change.”
According to Lipaz Shamoa-Nir (2023) in her article entitled: ‘The Motivations, Challenges, and Support of Road Safety Guard Volunteers: Uncovering the Driving Force’ - “It becomes crucial to raise awareness among citizens for safe driving and actively involve them in enforcing traffic laws. Indeed, this research findings highlight the volunteers’ strong sense of social responsibility and their conviction in making a positive difference in their community. By actively participating in road safety, they believe they contribute to a safer road environment.”
According to the Africa Transport Policy Program (SSATP), Community participation is needed for:
- Accurate understanding of the public’s priorities and needs, especially at the local level
- Increasing public support for government’s efforts
- Promoting effective service delivery
- Serving as a ‘watchdog’ or advocate for road safety
The generalisation here would be that road safety priorities are traditionally based on crash data analysis while in the Low Income Countries, where limited data would be available, it becomes even more imperative that road users are consulted so that local knowledge helps ensure the correct problems and appropriate, acceptable solutions get identified prior to the implementation of a half-baked road safety strategy.
In summarising, the serially predictable nature of the Road Crashes on Goan Roads is what makes the consistent road fatalities a pitiable affair, especially when the authorities could have been proactive in their preventive approach to harnessing road safety measures in the state. The laudable practice of shifting the onus, when the general public craves accountability for road deaths is nothing more than a political musical chair, which the departmental Ministers are more than proficient to participate in.
The true grief arises when the families of loved ones lost to road crashes and fatalities pass by the same stretch of road and notice no change in the road safety measures even after the multiple road crashes have occurred in the same location. All this neglect on Goan roads elicits an emotion in the hearts and minds of the family members of the loved ones that the fatality could have been prevented, if only the people in power had to listen to their suggestions.
In conclusion, the words of John Stuart Mill find an aptness here: “One person with a belief is a social power equal to the force of ninety-nine who have only interests”.
