Dear Transport Minister Hon. Minister Dhavlikar, I fully agree what Mr. Srinivas Kamat has said in his article in NT today ( 30th March 2015). Our Goa Transport Minister must read this letter carefully and direct the RTO which comes under your ministry, to get it implemented and adhere to the points stated by him which are certainly valid. Probably our CM might give him support by providing funds if required to get these equipment like Traffic lights, alcohol and speed meters gadgets,raincoats, gloves, shoes or gumboots, caps, well washed uniform, wireless sets, motorbike at their discretion etc., to purchase departmentally. The traffic Police Cell must understand that their staff are been fooled all the time by the motorists. The drivers are smart enough to pass on messages by flashing lights to incoming drivers that the cops are nearby to catch them. Dear Chief Minister hopefully you will keep your colleague well informed to study what has been said in his article and may implement suggestions recommended by the author/writer in all Goa roads immediately. Bogus driving licences obtained allegedly by bribing the RTO inspector/s must be reconsidered if the motorist is fit to drive on roads or else ask them to go back to driving school for an another test or cancel the licence.
Stephen Dias D.Paula Date : 30.3.2015 Multi-dimensional approach to road safety needed By Srinivas Kamat Moreover for traffic offenders which the police/RTO are able to intercept the standard procedure should be impounding of driving licence and payment of the fine at the RTO/police office where they should be given a copy of the MARG book - Our Friend The Road. The traffic offenders once they have been given the book should be asked to come for a test after a month which can be administered by MARG and only upon clearing the test they should be given back their driving licence. With the increasing fatalities on Goan roads the approach of the police and transport department to reduce fatalities by half is misplaced considering that they want to achieve this target by use of equipment like radar speed etc. This will not work since we have seen in Goa that equipment with sophisticated technology is brought in but then it rarely remains functional after some time. Thus the money spent on such equipment is clearly wasted. The other aspect is that a large proportion of accidents that takes place on our roads are because of rash driving and over-speeding. It has been the experience in places like Delhi, Bangalore and even on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway that motorists exchange signals mostly by blinking their headlights to warn oncoming traffic of RTO, police checks or even radar speed guns and at most the authorities will catch just one offender and the rest will escape. Even to get past the speed guns motorists are seen to slow down at places where the guns are placed at random and then speed up after they pass the location. Thus the investment on high technology gadgets becomes futile. The problem of trying to reduce fatalities is not easy and a slow and steady approach is recommended. Educating children on road safety so that they remind their family members to drive safely can be intensified. Road safety lectures can be given in colleges to bring home aspects of driving carefully since 2-wheeler riders comprises a large number of the total number of accidents that take place and college students are largely using 2-wheelers. Moreover for traffic offenders which the police/RTO are able to intercept the standard procedure should be impounding of driving licence and payment of the fine at the RTO/police office where they should be given a copy of the MARG book - Our Friend The Road. This book has been distributed among schoolchildren but even for adults it will be a reminder that the road belongs to all of us and it is our civic responsibility to drive safely. The traffic offenders once they have been given the book should be asked to come for a test after a month which can be administered by MARG and only upon clearing the test they should be given back their driving licence. This is similar to the system followed in developed countries where driving licences are suspended and finally withdrawn for multiple traffic offenders along with a graded scale of higher fines for repeat offenders. We can progressively move towards this kind of a system but developing a conscience to drive safely through the MARG book could be a first step. With our roads getting progressively wider the incidence of accidents will increase because rash driving and over-speeding will be on the rise. That is why we need to put traffic lights on our roads the simplest and first level of road automation in which Goa is sadly lacking. Other than the traffic signal at Dabolim Airport and the O'Coqueiro Circle in Porvorim it is rare to see a functioning traffic signal in Goa. The very fact that traffic signals are seen on our roads and the lights flash from red, amber to green will bring a consciousness that there is a regulation of traffic and one has to drive safely. At night times with the lights flashing amber there will be enhanced visibility of the need to take care. Additionally traffic lights installed in various parts of Goa will help people to cross the roads at major intersections easily and safely which with the wider roads today is becoming a life-threatening exercise. Thus one must hope that the authorities take heed of the above and not do another exercise that looks good on paper but we continue to see the rise of deaths on our roads. (S Kamat is a retired engineer devoting himself to espousing social and environmental causes).
