Amresh Parab
Panaji: Road accidents in the state have decreased by over 12%, while road fatalities have reduced by 6% this year, with traffic police attributing this to the various measures implemented for road safety.
The state saw 2,636 road mishaps in 2024, till December 25, while 2,317 accidents occurred during the corresponding period this year. A total of 277 individuals lost their lives in road accidents last year, while the number of road fatalities this year has been 261.
According to police, the reasons for the decline in road accidents and road fatalities are traffic enforcement, awareness on road safety, motorists following traffic rules and an increased sense of road discipline among the road users.
Traffic Superintendent of Police (SP) Prabodh Shirwaiker said that apart from the regular traffic enforcement, special drives are also held from time to time.
Stating that over-speeding is one of the major causes of road accidents in the state, Shirwaiker said such cases have seen an increase in the current year.
“A total of 17,546 cases of over-speeding were booked last year till December 25, while 20,823 such cases have been booked in the corresponding period this year,” the Traffic SP said.
Shirwaiker also said cases pertaining to helmet-less riding of two-wheelers have increased this year. Last year, till December 25, police had booked 35,387 cases related to riding without a helmet and such cases rose to 49,140 during the corresponding period this year.
Referring to the corrective measures undertaken for public safety, police officials said awareness programmes on road accidents and citizen safety are conducted by staff of police stations and traffic cells in schools, colleges and also at public places.
Police personnel are deployed at strategic points and at accident-prone areas for monitoring, checking and regulating smooth flow of vehicular traffic, said the officials.
Sources in the police said the authorities conducted inspections regarding traffic accidents across the state and identified 30 black spots and 13 accident-prone zones for the years 2022, 2023 and 2024 and the same were forwarded to the Public Works Department (PWD) for rectification.
