Road safety in India: could better road safety, vehicle technology and enforcement make driving for work safer?

Road safety is a neglected public health issue in India. About 474 people are killed every day in traffic accidents. That’s about 170,000 fatalities a year and is a far higher figure than in developed countries such as the USA, which in 2022 logged 42,514.

In fact, although India has just one per cent of the world’s total number of vehicles, it accounts for almost 10 per cent of all road accident deaths, according to study from the World Bank.

Sadly, public debate about the country’s poor road safety record only gains momentum when high profile individuals are killed or seriously injured on the roads, such as when well-known Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry died in a car crash on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway in September 2022.

Mistry’s fatal crash raised questions about the poor standard of road design in India, after a forensic team concluded that a bridge parapet wall protruding into hard shoulder of the highway could have been a contributing factor in the incident.

Following Mistry’s death, in a well-publicised move, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari ordered police forces across the county to strictly enforce laws requiring the wearing of seatbelts in the rear of vehicles. Also, for a short period at least, traffic police launched awareness campaigns and imposed fines on vehicle passengers found failing to wear rear seatbelts.

Road safety then faded from the media spotlight and public debate, only to resurface three months later when cricketer Rishabh Pant was injured in a road accident. This time, potholes were reportedly the cause of the crash, promoting further public debate about the need to repair them to improve road safety.

Insufficient government action
Although India has tried to address its poor road safety performance, evidence shows that the central and state governments’ measures are insufficient and much greater action is required. 

In fact, although the country’s chronic road safety problems have intensified calls for more stringent regulatory oversight and enforcement of road safety laws, experts say the calls from road and public safety campaigners have been largely ignored by various government agencies responsible for road transport, the road network and overall road safety.

So, what are the underlying causes of India’s poor road safety record? Experts say that a lack of public awareness about the importance of road safety and a widespread failure by drivers of all types of vehicles to adhere to road safety laws and precautions are just some of the major contributory factors to road traffic deaths and serious injuries.

According to a research report, National Strategy for prevention of unintentional injury, issued by India’s Ministry of Health in September 2024, speeding is responsible for 75 per cent of all fatalities due to road accidents in India. The second biggest cause was driving on the wrong side of the road (5.8 per cent), followed by driving under the influence and alcohol or drugs (2.5 per cent) and the use of mobile phones while behind the wheel. Other factors exacerbating the problem include inadequate road design, poor lighting and a lack of suitable pedestrian crossings, found the report.

The report also found that a staggering 45 per cent of the estimated 430,000 deaths due to unintentional injury (i.e. fatalities due to accidents rather than ‘intentional’ causes like homicides) in India in 2022 were due to road crashes.  

Little progress on reducing fatal crashes
Meanwhile, another report, India Status Report on Road Safety 2024, issued by the Transportation Research and Injury Prevention (TRIP) Centre at IIT Delhi in September 2024, warned that India is making little progress in reducing road traffic fatalities, and most Indian states are unlikely to meet the United Nations (UN) Decade of Action for Road Safety goal to halve traffic deaths by 2030, despite the central government signing up to the commitment.

The report analysed the current state of road safety in India, using data from First Information Reports (reports filed by the police where a crime may have been committed) from six states, and audits of state compliance with Supreme Court directives on road safety governance.

Although the report warns the reliance on FIRs from just six states and state road safety government reports means only the most basic analysis is possible, it found that road safety varies considerably across India, with per capita deaths rates varying from state-to-state.

The report found that six states – Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu – account for nearly half of all traffic fatalities in India. In 2021, Tamil Nadu (21.9), Telangana (19.2) and Chhattisgarh (17.6) had the highest rates per 100,000 people, while West Bengal and Bihar recorded the lowest rates at 5.9 per 100,000.

Trucks the biggest single cause of fatal crashes
The report also found that pedestrians, cyclists and motorised two-wheeler riders are the most common victims of fatal road accidents, while trucks accounted for the highest proportion of ‘impacting’ vehicles (i.e. the vehicle that caused the fatality). This finding supports other research which found that buses and trucks are involved in 70 per cent of crashes in urban and rural India.

In addition, the TRIP report compares India’s road safety record with developed countries that have made considerable progress in reducing road traffic collisions, injuries and fatalities, such as Scandinavian nations.

It found that in 1990, an Indian person was 40 per cent more likely to die in a road traffic incident than someone in a Scandinavian country, but three decades later in 2021, the figure had skyrocketed to 600 per cent.

Rise in fatalities in Delhi
Meanwhile, according to the Delhi government, there has been an alarming rise in road traffic fatalities in the national capital. At least four persons died every day in the city in preventable road crashes in 2022, an increase from the previous year, report the city’s officials.

The 2022 Delhi Road Crash Fatalities Report from the capital’s Transport Department found that 50 per cent of the road crash victims were pedestrians, while 45 per cent were drivers and passengers of two or three-wheelers.

The report says that in 2022, 1,571 people were killed in 1,517 fatal crashes. “It is concerning that these numbers represent a 28 per cent increase from the previous year,” notes the report.

The report also found the time of day appears to be a key contributory factor in road deaths, with most fatal crashes occurring between 9pm and 2am. The combination of higher speeds and low visibility during these hours, along with a spike in hit-and-run cases, appeared to be contributory factors in the higher rate of road deaths during the night-time period, found the report.

Reducing accident black spots
In an attempt to reduce the number of road fatalities, the Indian government has launched a number of initiatives. For example, since 2015, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has run a programme aimed at identifying and reducing accident black spots – dangerous stretches of highway where accidents frequently occur.

On national highways, major roads connecting towns and cities, advanced traffic management systems (ATMS), such as speed cameras and automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) systems, have been introduced to attempt to reduce accidents at black spots.

Speaking last year, national minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari argued that most road accidents are caused by bad road design and engineering, rather than poor behaviour by drivers.

Gadkari urged road and highways engineers to ensure that new and upgraded roads are designed and constructed to prevent accidents, and said existing accident black spots should be removed and new ones avoided at the design stage of road building to save lives. In September 2024, Gadkari also criticised the Indian Road Congress (IRC) – the technical body for highway engineers, which sets out design standards for roads and highway construction – for poor design and construction of new roads, which he said could contribute to further accidents.

Gadkari also recently announced plans to use artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor traffic violations and enhance road safety and efficiency, saying that the government had decided to appoint experts from the private sector to collaborate on developing technological solutions to road safety challenges. He added that a new committee had been formed to finalise plans for ways of rapidly improving road safety across the country.

Financial reasons
Commentators say there are also strong financial reasons for the Indian government to step up its efforts to improve road safety, as a World Bank report found that road traffic accidents cost the Indian economy an estimated three to five per cent of GDP per year.

Meanwhile, research shows that the human and financial burden of road crashes falls heaviest on rural and poor communities. According to a 2021 report by the SaveLIFE Foundation, 44 per cent of rural households reported at least one death resulting from a road crash compared with 11.6 per cent of urban households. The report also found that poorer families are four times more vulnerable to road accidents than their wealthier counterparts.

Also, the economic repercussions were more severe for those on low incomes, with 75 per cent of poor households experiencing a decline in total household income after a road accident, compared to 54 per cent in rich households.

The SafeLIFE Foundation report concludes that the “socioeconomic burden of road crashes is disproportionately borne by poor households”. 

Four-fold approach is required
Commentators say that a four-fold approach is required to improve India’s road safety performance, based on education, engineering, enforcement and emergency care. However, they argue that human factors is also a critical element in encouraging safe driving and preventing crashes, and continuous training, both functional and behavioural, is essential.

Meanwhile, a 2022 report from Niti Aayog, the central government’s public policy think tank, says the number of trucks on the roads is projected to more than quadruple from four million in 2022 to approximately 17 million by 2050. “Needless to say, the country needs trained [truck] drivers, but how many driver’s training schools are there?” asked one expert.

In fact, despite their importance to the Indian economy and day-to-day life for the nation’s population, truck drivers are often overlooked and blamed for accidents.

Technological solutions
However, Indian technology companies are increasingly striving to develop technological solutions to ensure the safety of trucking operations. For instance, one company, Netradyne, has designed an innovative AI-powered solution aimed at improving the safety of commercial vehicles.

Netradyne Driver•I uses vehicle-mounted and in-cab cameras, in-cab sensors and AI technology to capture and analyse driving behaviour. Drivers are given a GreenZone Score, based on positive and risky driving behaviours, and fleet managers can use the results in coaching sessions and driver reviews to highlight good and bad driving behaviour and traits. The scores can also be used to reward drivers who consistently drive with due care and attention for the road conditions, other road users and road safety rules.

The technology also automatically spots potentially unsafe actions and behaviours behind the wheel, such as the driver becoming drowsy, and sends an immediate in-cab audio alert, urging the driver to take action. This enables drivers to change their driving immediately, preventing a potentially dangerous situation form arising.

Drivers also receive live in-cab alerts warning of potentially dangerous driving styles, such as sharp acceleration and hard braking, and, when off the road, can check their driver safety rating score and get tips for improving the safety of their driving via their mobile phones.

However, some drivers view this type of technology as intrusive and resent its installation
in their vehicle.

Shivkumar Balasubramanian, senior director for India Business at Netradyne, says some commercial drivers, such as some truckers, are sceptical about the purpose of in-cab cameras, and worry about being ‘watched’.

However, Balasubramanian encourages companies purchasing the system to explain to drivers that Netradyne’s Driver•i technology is not actively ‘watching’ them personally, and the footage captured by the cameras is not being constantly monitored by humans, seeking to catch out drivers who may, for example, be taking a break from driving to eat, rest or do paperwork. 
“We need to coach drivers and show them that this technology is there to help them drive safely, not to monitor them,” said Balasubramanian. “Once drivers understand the solution’s value, they see camera-based solutions as helpful.”

Meanwhile, in a separate move, in June 2022, the World Bank approved a $250 million loan to support India’s road safety programme for seven states – Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

The funding aims to help the states reduce road accident fatalities through improved road safety management and institutional reforms. Some of the money was also set aside to strengthen emergency medical services that attend the scene of road accidents to provide medical treatment to road crash victims and to fund post-crash rehabilitation services for the injured.

Importance of emergency medical care
Experts say providing quality and timely emergency medical care both at the scene of road accidents and once victims arrive at hospital is critical to saving saves and an area where the government can make a significant contribution. “How quickly we can provide ambulance services and trauma care is crucial in reducing fatalities,” they say.

Commentators say there are a number of other measures the central and state governments should take to improve the country’s road safety record, and protect road users such as commercial drivers, pedestrians and other vulnerable groups like cyclists.

For instance, Manoshij Banerjee, an independent consultant on digital behaviour and culture, and Mohammed Shahid Abdulla, a faculty member in Information Systems at the Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode, argue that better road design and engineering could go a long way to reducing the toll of fatal and serious crashes. Writing for the Scroll.in news website, they say even government ministers have acknowledged that many of the accidents and deaths on Indian roads are due to faulty road engineering, poor design of junctions and inadequate signage and road markings.

For example, they argue that while the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and the National Highways Authority of India set standards for the design, construction and maintenance of major highways, there are insufficient independent audits to ensure that design failures that could increase road safety risks are spotted before construction takes place.

As a result, they argue there should be a review of the road design specifications set by government, greater oversight of the way contractors are building and maintaining roads, and a programme of identifying existing examples of poor road design and rectifying them.

For example, they argue that a lack of uniform lane widths, varying hard shoulder widths and uneven openings from side roads and merging lanes from other roads can all increase the risk of accidents, and should be avoided.

Importance of speed change lanes
They also argue that despite recommendations from the Indian Road Congress, most national highways do not have speed change lanes, which enable drivers to slow down or speed up before existing a highway or merging with the main highway traffic. They argue these deceleration or acceleration design features help reduce rear-end collisions, especially involving trucks and buses, which accelerate slower than cars but cannot slow down fast enough from a high to a low speed due to their weight and momentum.

This is particularly relevant since trucks are the highest proportion of impacting vehicles in fatal road accidents, according to the India Status Report on Road Safety 2024 from the TRIP Centre at IIT Delhi.

Poor enforcement of road safety law
Meanwhile, George Cheriyan, a public policy analyst and consumer activist, argues that poor and uneven enforcement of road traffic laws and penalties is leading to a culture of non-compliance among drivers and riders of motorised vehicles and two and three-wheelers, such as motorcycles.

Writing for the Policy Circle public policy discussion website, he argues that while the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019 introduced tougher penalties for serious road traffic offences by drivers, many states failed to implement the Act effectively and weakened the intended tougher penalties. He also argues that states have failed to enforce road safety laws in general, fearing a backlash and resistance from drivers.

Cheriyan argues that during the period 2020 and 2023, only seven per cent of fines levied for road traffic offences nationally were collected.

However, Cheriyan says that states and cities across India can learn from the example of Delhi, where transport officials have introduced rules where traffic offence fine evaders with more than five pending fines will not be able to go online to register changes of vehicle ownership, obtain a vehicle fitness certificate, or access other services through the government portal.

“These types of campaigns and measures need to be replicated in other cities and states to ensure compliance”, he states in the article for Policy Circle.

Plan of Action for Road Safety
Cheriyan added that India urgently needs to develop a Plan of Action on Road Safety for 2025–2030 if it is to have any realistic chance of achieving the agreed UN target of reducing road deaths and serious injuries by 50 per cent by the end of 2030.

“The Plan of Action should align with the Decade of Action for Road Safety by emphasizing the importance of a holistic approach to road safety, focusing on continued improvements in road infrastructure and conditions, law enforcement and legal amendments where needed, and the provision of timely, life-saving emergency care (trauma care) for the injured,” he wrote on the Policy Circle website.

“The Plan of Action should also promote sustainable mobility. There is an urgent need to prepare such a plan, involving all states and key stakeholders.

“Without a comprehensive Plan of Action on Road Safety, along with time-bound implementation, rigorous monitoring, strong political will, and commitment, achieving the ambitious target of halving road fatalities by
2030 will remain a distant dream.”