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Domnic Fernandes continues (Part II) his reminiscence of
Mapusa of the 1950s
http://www.goanet.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=426
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Dear FN,
When I first came to the US, I witnessed something
that to me was simply amazing at the time. At one of
the four way junctions, the traffic (signal)lights had
stopped working. In the US, at rush hour if something
like this happens, the traffic queues, snake on
forever. I expected absolute chaos. To my amazement
there was none. It was so perfectly streamlined.
Everyone knew what to do. Give way, one car one
junction way at a time. No one tried to break this
tacit agreement.
You can widen the roads, you can hotmix them, you can
put as many corrupt cops on the road as possible.
Nothing will change until you change the mindset.
Perhaps this can be done with education, perhaps it
can be done with strict penalty. Either way, one must
firmly believe that civic responsibility is a virtue
of the highest order in a democracy.
Evolution of society does not take place when GDPs
swell or per capitas become bulging. Societies change
when our inner compass becomes more finely tuned. It
is a daunting task fine tuning the compass of 1
billion people but we must begin somewhere.
Elisabeth
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> Some of the factors that seem to be accentuating the
> problem:
>
> * Lack of policemen on most of Goa's roads for most
> time of the day.
> * Police diverted for VIP (and other unessential
> duty), claims of
> police shortage, inspite
> of the massive police expansion by the Parrikar
> government.
> * Corruption among RTO.
> * Hardly any breathalyzer tests -- pressure of the
> tourism/entertainment/alcohol lobby?
> * Large number of drivers not familiar with the
> state's geography
> (visitors, expats, tourists)
> * Lack of adequate training at driving-school level.
> * Fixed rate for training of driving (as pointed out
> by Eddie).
> * Influx of hi-power bikes, cars with powerful
> pick-up speeds,
> zero-to-seventy-in-seven-seconds
> * Add your comments to the list here...
>
>
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