NEWSLINKS
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTION 99
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

Goa court's exemplary sentence for rash driving

Sandesh Prabhudesai Panaji

A lower court in Goa has sentenced a car driver to one-year imprisonment for negligent driving and causing the death of a scooterist.

Mumbai-based Subayya Balchanda killed a scooterist in 1997 while driving a car on the wrong side of the national highway in Panaji.

The sentence, which follows a call by the Supreme Court to "maintain deterrent element in the sentencing sphere" when dealing with cases of negligent driving, is likely to serve as a warning against rash driving.

While upholding a one-year-and-three-month jail sentence against a Haryana Roadways bus driver for killing a cyclist, a division bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justice K T Thomas and Justice Doraiswamy Raju had said these drivers deserve no leniency under the Offenders Act.

"I do not find any merit in the submissions that the accused deserves leniency since he is not a professional driver. Whether a person is a professional driver or any driver makes no difference when a person is driving a vehicle," said Judicial Magistrate (First Class), Panaji, Desmond D'Costa.

Being a major tourist destination, Goan roads are choked with vehicles all round the year. Besides a large number of tourist vehicles, Goans themselves buy 26,000 new vehicles every year, which means a minimum 70 new vehicles come on the roads every day here.

Statistics collected from the Traffic Department reveal that over 1,650 accidents were reported last year with 209 fatalities. An alarming 69 per cent of these accidents were caused due to negligent driving.

Over 36 per cent of the total accidents in Goa involve two-wheelers.

Though a majority of the accidents also involve drunken driving, figures reveal a high incidence (68 per cent) of mishaps between 11 am to 8 pm - normal working hours in the tourist state.

Back to top

Tell us what you think of this report