We are not far away from the day when the only sounds of music heard in Goa would be the sirens emanating from ambulances across the State. Every day one reads about deaths from road accidents and fatalities. India is one country where a person kills somebody by rash and negligent driving gets away easily with least punishment.
Our legal system is so strange and mystifying that more often than not the victim and the common man is relegated to the role of a silent spectator. It’s difficult to be conscious of the plight of a child losing his/her parents or parents losing their child in an accident.
Negligent and rash driving has become so common in Goa too and can be witnessed at all hours. Drunk driving is even more common.
National Highways are a racing track for Mercedes, Audis and SUV’s . Violation and abuse of traffic rules and regulations is on the rise. Whilst many of those hit, succumb to their injuries or are incapacitated or sustain serious injuries or survive with badly disfigured faces, the guilty are let off after mere formal arrest by application of lighter charges and invoking bailable sections of the legal provisions against them.
Sunday, August 6, 2023 :Three killed and three others critically injured resulting from a Mercedes SUV crashing into multiple cars and bikes on the busy Banastarim bridge late Sunday night around 8 pm. News reports that the person driving the car was heavily drunk with the blood alcohol level at 94 mg, three times more than the permissible limit. The tragedy is a blight on all humanity and the rage of the authorities should act as a clarion call.
We cannot remain silent spectators, unmoved and oblivious of the increasing number of accident deaths. But then the anesthetized patience of the Indian public has always mystified me.
My thoughts and prayers are with the families of those killed in the accident. Being a lawyer, I'm conscious of the fact that the legal process is so mystifying that more often than not the common man or not so affluent man is simply relegated to the role of a silent spectator, though the issue concerns his family and his livelihood.
Police action and reports , as usual, are reportedly marked by doubt and confusion.
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The police need to bear in mind that all men have inalienable rights and all are equal before law. No discriminations, deprivations or suspensions are permissible or should be in no other way be attempted.
The traffic management in Goa needs to be considerably enhanced to deal strictly and stringently with vehicles coming out on the roads of the State. With the growing traffic of the domestic, national and international visitors to the State, Goa is gaining the distinction of scoring extremely high on road accidents.
I am not going to quote the grim statistics as official figures on the snuffed-out lives are grossly underestimated. However, whilst every day in the newspapers accidents are reported, still many go unreported.
The burgeoning traffic on Goa’s roads should be a serious and major concern for all as death stalks Goa’s roads.
The traffic cell of the Goa police needs to recognize the urgency of regulating the traffic to curb the accident rates. The mechanisms in place to this date are inadequate. Exceedingly high speed vehicles openly flout all traffic rules and regulations with utter disregard to the law. Traffic police force should be immediately augmented.
The suffering of the family of those who succumb to their injuries or are incapacitated in the accidents is unimaginable. And that is a story that will never be adequately told. For no one who has not experienced such a situation can know its depths. The statistics are fearsome, each individual case a major tragedy.
I think we have been amazed enough by words like pragmatic and practical for an issue like this that causes untold physical, mental and emotional damage to the helpless and unprotected section of the population.
This is no time to remain silent. Whilst many accident victims struggle every moment to come to terms with life, awaiting justice for decades with many of them having stopped pursuing cases, the drivers who tormented them are either free... out on bail or in jails enjoying the authority’s hospitality.
Our judiciary needs to sincerely step up efforts to address the accidents in a timely and sensitive manner and ensure that investigations are going at requisite pace. State governments must be exhorted to pay utmost attention and treat the issue on an important note.
Emergencies can’t be predicted, but emergency preparedness can be made. All of us should at once be concerned in an intimate and serious way with every life lost in a road accident. Silence is sin.
