Mormugao and its myriad road miseries

Vasco: Rash and negligent driving apart, sub-standard road engineering appears to be the reason behind the bulk of accidents in the Mormugao taluka. Major junctions at Dabolim, Bogmalo, Zuarinagar and Consua and others along National Highway (NH) 17B lack channelizers or traffic islands. In fact, motorists complain that openings made between the dividers along several roads don't even have uniform radii.
The stretch on NH 17B from Varunapuri to the Verna industrial estate, for instance, has as many as 12 openings in its dividers, each without a standard radius. The absence of signage boards alerting motorists about the turning pointssave one erected near Zuari Indian Oil Tanking Limited (ZIOTL)causes several serious accidents in that location. The 1.5km-long road from El-Monte theatre to Sada junction is also dangerous, motorists say, not only because it is just seven metres wide but also because it is subject to the frequent passage of heavy vehicles. A bad situation is made worse when the road is excavated.
Safety of pedestrians is also at risk along the thoroughfare, what with it being devoid of footpaths and zebra crossings. The situation along internal roads in the taluka is not any different, either.
Police inspector of Vasco's traffic cell Sudesh Narvekar, said his team was in the process of preparing a report highlighting the major causes of accidents in the area and solutions to reduce them. "My department has also been suggesting that the Mormugao municipal council (MMC) request some companies to exercise their corporate social responsibility (CSR) and paint zebra crossings in some areas, but to no avail," he said.
Parking issues only add to the traffic cell's woes. Although the cell has urged the MMC to implement pay-parking in Vasco, and although it has been on top of the civic body's list of priorities, very little headway has been made. Besides, the MMC has failed to recover a large tract of land in the heart of the port town from the Salgaocars, to whom it was earlier leased. Reclaiming ownership of this land is guaranteed to reduce parking problems to a great extent, sources said.
Heavy vehicles, too, can't be deterred from entering the port town, at least not until the overbridge linking NH 17B to Mormugao Port Trust's (MPT) port number 9 is completed. But, with the authorities being largely unsuccessful in disciplining the flow of heavy vehicles in the heart of Vasco, traffic jams are a regular occurrence. Breakdowns only add to the confusion. Narvekar also added that a slope at Chicalim, next to Pai Nursing Home, is so steep that large vehicles find it difficult to climb.
In a bid to tackle the issue of irresponsible driving, the Vasco traffic cell has, from January until now, booked 107 cases against people driving in an inebriated condition. The department is now in the process of demanding suspension of their licences.
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Wooden chips and other material transported by vehicles are not covered properly, resulting in pollution and posing several hazards to motorists. Also, many riders tend to 'race' along the town's main roads and nobody seems to be penalizing them