Dear Goanetters, The death of the entire Costa family at Verna was tragic. No two opinions about that. All four of them had fatal head injuries.Unfortunately,for the two wheeler riders in Goa who survive the "mobile traffic islands' formed by stray cattle as quickly as the mobile 'Interceptor' check points are set by the traffic police,the potholes that they bump into more often than the RTO,the cow dung and the slush at the road edges,the highspeeding Kadamba 'shuttle'buses, the road-hogging trucks and buses,the badly designed traffic island[where landscaping and architecture and kick-backs there from take precedence over the needs of the road users] and badly 'banked' turns on the road,the smoking 6 to 16 wheeler truck trailers on the incline, the four "deaths due to head injuries" will be added to the statistics quoted to enforce the "helmet rule". The two wheeler riders have to carry their driving licence,Registration papers,insurance certificate,'Pollution Under Control" certificate and at least Rs.100/- to "compound" the offence of not wearing a helmet. Will the authorities now make it compulsory for all three- and four- wheeler drivers and all their passengers to wear crash helmets ? This must be in addition to the seat belts[this law is conveniently not enforced in Goa,perhaps because the ministers travel by cars]. Perhaps the KTC buses will be fitted with the Konkan Railway developed ACDs[anti-collision devices] to prevent accidents. As long as there is corruption in the Transport department licences will continue to be issued to anyone willing to pay.Ditto for recruitment in the semi-govt. KTC,which is making a loss annually anyway.Few more damaged buses do not make a difference. The truck operations are difficult to control, unless the police and the RTO can muster the courage[ and the honesty] to impound them for rectifying their engines to the permissible level of particulate emissions and C0 content[currently PUC enforcement is for two wheelers only],salt water spillage from tempos and trucks carrying fish,water spillage from illegal tempo/truck mounted tanks [that are conveniently called 'tankers',which they are legally not],driving under the influence of feni and other friendly spirits and breaking the speed limits. It takes guts to chase a truck[ with a maverick driver ]with a puny Maruti Esteem'Interceptor' .Two wheeler riders are easy meat and good for revenue collection for the self and the State,in order of preference depending on the officer in charge.
Till then,fellow two wheeler riders,crawl at below 40 kmph where the speed limit is 60 kmph, while the buses and truck overtake you at 80 kmph. Ensure that they overtake you,go off the road[even though the road shoulders are absent after the rains] if needed. Or else.... or else they may ram you from the back and you may have to go to the undertakers[overtakers are better,anyday!] ...and you may continue to haunt us ....incarnate as a 'statistic' of head injury death. Take care,our happiness depends on your life. Miguel Braganza ----- Original Message ----- From: "airesrod" [EMAIL PROTECTED] PERILIOUS ROADS AND WATER Even the recent death of the entire Canacona family of four members will not open the eyes of the authorities . The buses of the Kadamba TransportCorporation have been distinguished as the major killers on our roads today. The authorities were fooling no one when they tried to enforce the * helmet rule* for two wheeler riders in the name of saving lives. It is known to all that lives can only be saved when our roads are made safe. As far as two wheeler riders are concerned, helmets are no solution to the root problem. Today our highways and other roads are infested with stray cattle and dogs.The authorities have failed to take any steps to ensure that these stray animals do not squat on the highways and a cause of so many accidents. Aires Rodrigues Ribandar --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.516 / Virus Database: 313 - Release Date: 9/1/2003 ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
