13 road stretches across Goa are death traps, finds survey

PANAJI: Thirteen road stretches across the national highways and state highways have been identified as accident-prone zones, as per a survey report submitted by a consultant company called HAKS engineers, architect and land surveyors, appointed by the transport department.
In a state-level meeting held on Monday at the secretariat, issues pertaining to road safety were discussed.It was attended by officials from the transport department, the Goa police and the public works department (PWD), among others.
Director of transport Rajan Satardekar said that the company pointed out various unsafe routes. These included the Anmod to Panaji sector, Farmagudi to Mormugao via Borim, Panaji to Polem, Cortalim to Mormugao and the Panaji to Patradevi road.
HAKS also identified the routes from Karaswada to Valpoi, Assonora to Maharashtra border via Dodamarg, Sakhali to Keri, Borim to Margao, Borim to Curchorem, Dharbandora to Curchorem and Shiroda to Curchorem, for correction.
Satardekar said that the PWD should carry out modifications according to the recommendations made by the company.
He also said that the roads had been identified by taking up accident data from the traffic cell and black spots had been marked for stretches where more than ten accidents had taken place.
The transport director said that the Supreme Court committee on road safety had asked the state government to intensify patrolling on highways. It also asked the government to get more speed guns to challan speeding vehicles.
In a discussion on how to celebrate the road safety week, it was decided that this time, panchayats should also be involved.
On an average, one person dies in a road accident in the state every 30 hours. Police also said that tourists died in road accidents as they did not always wear helmets while driving.