Safer roads: Fatal accidents in Goa slide by 23%, beating years of lethal uptick

Panaji: In the first quarter of the year, Goa recorded a 23% decrease in fatal accidents and a 25% dip in road deaths, representing some positive signs of traffic safety after many years. Otherwise, on average, one person has lost their life in a road accident per day over the past couple of years.
Between Jan and March 2025, 58 fatal accidents were reported in the state as against 76 in the corresponding period of last year. Till March this year, 59 people lost their lives compared to 79 over that period in 2024. There was no change in the number of pedestrian deaths: nine.
Goa police have planned to reduce fatal accidents by 10% in 2025. The traffic cell of Goa police has so far booked nearly 1 lakh people for violating traffic rules.
The traffic cell increased awareness drives on violations, with campaigns at schools, colleges, and village panchayats. Over 500 lectures were conducted, and over 39,000 people were educated about traffic rules.
The traffic cell wrote to the PWD to take long-term and short-term measures to ensure that accidents are reduced on the roads.
“When an accident is reported, the police inspector concerned visits the site and recommends the necessary changes to avoid accidents in the future,” a senior traffic police officer said. “All the recommendations are then forwarded to the PWD to make corrections on the road.”
An analysis of accidents in 2024 by the traffic cell revealed that the maximum number of accidents occurred between 6pm and 7pm.
A senior police officer said that a higher number of accidents occur after office hours as everyone is in a hurry to reach home.
The traffic cell said that the maximum number of accidents were reported on Mondays at 16.5%, followed by Sundays at 14.5%. A senior officer said that Monday is the first day of the office week, and due to delays at home for some reason, most people speed up their vehicles to reach their offices, which could be one of the reasons for the maximum accidents reported on that day.