Editorial: India’s move to make roads safer must go beyond identification

Centre’s plan to identify high-risk corridors will reduce accidents only if backed by action

Despite occasional policy interventions and public awareness campaigns, road safety in India remains a cause for concern. With over 1.6 lakh deaths annually, road accidents kill more people in the country than many public health emergencies combined. No wonder India has earned the dubious distinction of being the road accident capital of the world, reporting more than 20 deaths every hour. Against this grim backdrop, the Centre’s recent decision to identify 18 high-risk highway corridors and focus on 100 accident-prone districts to bring down the number of mishaps is a welcome move. Badly designed curves, poor lighting, missing signage, lax enforcement or reckless driving habits are common factors that contribute to the alarming rise in fatal accidents. Nearly two-thirds of road crash fatalities occur outside National Highways — on State highways, district roads, and local streets. This demands a shift in how we act: from isolated interventions to district-level action, where engineering, enforcement, trauma care, and community action converge. Mapping corridors with high fatalities allows authorities to deploy engineering fixes, enforcement and emergency response where they are most needed. Evidence suggests that focused enforcement delivers results. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, in collaboration with the NGO Save Life Foundation, has identified 100 districts, spread over 15 States, with the highest number of road crashes, to launch a data-driven zero-fatalities programme, in line with the government’s target to reduce road fatalities by 50% by 2030.

An analysis across the 100 identified districts recorded nearly 89,000 road deaths in 2023 and 2024. Over 17,000 critical crash locations, which together accounted for 58% of total fatalities, have been mapped. The high-risk time windows during which most crashes occurred have also been identified, enabling law enforcement agencies to better target resource deployment. An analysis of the accidents showed that rear-end collisions accounted for 26% of fatalities, head-on collisions 23%, and pedestrian crashes for 23%. Together, these three categories were responsible for 72% of all road deaths. The framework for the zero-fatalities programme adopts a multi-pronged approach. It includes engineering audits and the implementation of low-cost, quick-build safety interventions, such as correcting faulty road intersections. Since crash deaths are often influenced by local factors such as road design, traffic enforcement, and hospital preparedness, effective interventions are best coordinated at the district level, where administration converges through measures like traffic policing and emergency medical care. However, the Centre’s plan will succeed only if it goes beyond identification and symbolism. Past road safety initiatives have stumbled on weak coordination between Central, State and local authorities. Fixing black spots requires sustained funding, accountability for implementing agencies and regular audits of outcomes. Crucially, States must be empowered to act. Though comprising barely 2-3% of the road network, national highways account for a high number of fatalities — more than 26,000 in the first half of 2025.