Goa Police To Focus On 'Black Spots' and Awareness Over Fines To Reduce Road Fatalities

Goa Police, under the leadership of Director General of Police (DGP) Alok Kumar, has set an ambitious target to reduce road fatalities by 20 per cent in 2025.

This follows a concerning trend of 286 road accident fatalities in 2024, only four fewer than the previous year.

In a meeting with the Superintendent of Police (SP) traffic cell and traffic inspectors, Kumar outlined a detailed strategy to address the issue.

“We have set a target to reduce road fatalities by 20 per cent. From 286 fatal accidents reported in the state, we want to bring it down to 225,” Kumar told The Times of India.

As part of the initiative, the traffic cell will mark "black dates" on its calendar to mark days when road fatalities occur. This serves as a reminder to work towards preventing future accidents.

“When a black mark appears on the traffic cell calendar, they have to think about how to avoid the next black date,” Kumar explained.

January 2025 has already shown a promising decline, with five fatalities compared to ten in the same period last year. However, Kumar emphasised that changing road user behaviour is crucial.

“The behaviour of the road user is important to reduce fatalities. We will be closely watching and monitoring road accidents,” he said.

Highlighting the role of helmets in preventing fatalities, Kumar pointed out that Goa mandates helmets only for riders, not pillion riders, despite head injuries being a leading cause of death.

“Just the rider wearing a helmet cannot save lives, but responsible behaviour on the road is also very important,” he said.

“All should wear helmets as most of the deaths in road accidents are due to head injuries. It is not that the pillion rider's skull is stronger than a rider's," he added.

Police will also focus on identifying accident-prone "black spots" and collaborating with relevant departments to make necessary changes.

Kumar stressed that enforcement efforts would aim to create awareness rather than simply issuing fines.

“Police will create awareness, and prosecution will be done to create the image that police are out to curb accidents and not levy fines,” he said.

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