12 ROAD ACCIDENTS DAILY, ONE FATALITY EVERY 29 HOURS IN GOA

Goa unveiled the road safety week on new year’s day with a grim reminder that in 2009 Goan roads witnessed on an average 12 accidents per day and one fatality every 29 hours. But authorities derived small consolation from the fact that the total number of accidents and fatalities reduced marginally as compared to 2008. The superintendent of police (traffic) Arvind Gawas told TOI that there were 4,164 accidents and 310 fatalities on Goa’s roads from January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2009. For the corresponding period in 2008, there were 318 fatalities and 4,178 accidents on Goan roads. “This means fatalities decreased by eight and accidents reduced by 14 in 2009 as compared to last year. This is despite the fact that there was an increase of 70,000 vehicles on Goan roads in 2009,” said Gawas. There were 322 road fatalities in 2007. He said that preliminary statistics for 2009 showed that two-wheelers accounted for 37% of the accidents followed by cars (30%). Motorcyclists accounted for 57% of fatalities. Most of the victims belonged to the productive age of 20 to 35. The highest number of accidents (36%) were on national highways and 70% of the mishaps were due to driver’s fault. Straight roads accounted for 67% of the accidents and the maximum accidents occurred between 6pm and 7pm. Most accidents occurred in the month of December and the maximum accidents were reported on Mondays. The highest number of accidents were in the Verna area and the highest number of fatalities occured in the Ponda area. On its part, the Goa traffic police identified 100 accident-prone zones and moved proposals for their improvement to PWD and other civic bodies. The traffic police also educated 5,507 drivers and 11,926 students on road safety in 2009. Traffic police also undertook strict enforcement of traffic laws and booked 2,60,911 traffic violators last year. This is 13,456 more violators booked then the 2,47,455 violators booked in 2008.