With the increase in the number of road accidents, the ongoing ‘Pothole Raja’ campaign, an initiative by motorcycle manufacturers as well as bike enthusiasts from the country, got much-needed attention at the India Bike Week (IBW) which was held from December 2, 2022 to December 3, 2022 at Vagator.
ABOUT POTHOLE RAJA
'Pothole Raja' recently concluded an awareness campaign to promote the use of helmets in Goa, while also focusing on the subject of road safety.
As part of the campaign, volunteers also repaired several gaping potholes.
GOA'S ACCIDENT SCENE
At IBW, thousands of bikers from all over the country make their way to Goa, and this is a great opportunity to take up and discuss issues related to road safety, especially for bikers and two-wheeler riders.
Road safety is a matter of concern in Goa, too, especially in the wake of a spate of accidents – many of which are fatal – involving two wheelers.
According to Goa Traffic Police data, the months from January to October, this year witnessed 202 road mishaps, resulting in fatalities, 126 of which comprised two-wheelers.
CAMERA AND FINES
According to the head of sales at The Bike Shop Racing, Abdullah Sayad, installing cameras and imposing fines is required to bring down the road accident rate.
“Apart from that, roads are plagued with potholes, and that increases the risk of accidents. People need to be more knowledgeable about their two-wheelers, and assess its weaknesses and strengths to ride more efficiently. There needs to be a joint effort from the government and citizens to improve road safety awareness,” he said.
SAFETY DEVICES
Founder of Scan Patch, Karl Coelho, who is a biker himself, has come up with a unique safety device, which can be worn in the form of a patch on a biker’s gear, which provides critical medical details about the biker in case of an accident, thus hastening treatment.
“The safety gear, in the form of a fabric patch, contains a scannable chip which can be fixed on any part of your clothing, which enables the owner to store emergency information such as addresses, blood group, allergies, insurance, location and more In the case of an accident, all the important information is available in one place for the paramedics,” says Karl.
