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Supreme Court issues 13-point directive to road departments at central and state levels to prevent road accidents and deaths
In the last hearing on April 13, the top court said national highways constitute about 2% of India’s total road length but account for about 30% of all road deaths. Symbolic Image/PTI
The Supreme Court has identified highway deaths as failures of infrastructure, enforcement and governance and said the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution imposes a positive obligation on authorities to ensure safe roads.
In the last few years, India has recorded an increase highway deathsWhich appears to be the predictable outcome of a system that prioritizes speed and expansion over security, with weak accountability in enforcement and design.
In November 2025, the Supreme Court took suo motu cognizance of systemic negligence and catastrophic infrastructure failures after 34 people lost their lives in consecutive road accidents in Phalodi in Rajasthan and Rangareddy in Telangana.
In the last hearing on April 13, the top court said national highways constitute about 2% of India’s total road length but account for about 30% of all road deaths.
The order signed by Justices Jitendra Kumar Maheshwari and AS Chandurkar said, “A road, especially a high-speed expressway, should not become a danger corridor due to administrative laxity or lack of infrastructure. The loss of even one life due to avoidable hazards like illegal parking or blackspots, etc., represents a failure of the protective umbrella of the State.”
He also said that the right to life conferred under Article 21 of the Constitution is not only a guarantee against taking life unlawfully but is a positive mandate on the State to ensure a safe environment where human life is protected and valued.
SC’s road safety mandate
The Supreme Court issued 13-point instructions to the road departments at the central and state level for prevention Road accidents and related deaths.
The court listed time-bound directions, including identification of black spots within 45 days, mandatory installation of lights and speed cameras, truck lay-by every 75 km and a ban on highway parking outside designated areas.
For compliance with the order, the court said all implementing agencies—NHAI, state PWD and BRO—shall be jointly and severally responsible within their respective jurisdictions.
Why are highways becoming deadlier?
To better understand this issue and how roads can be made safer in India, News18 spoke to experts.
Bhargab Maitra, professor in the department of civil engineering at IIT Kharagpur and member of the Road Safety Network, says accidents on highways and expressways are fundamentally a system failure and not a single-factor problem.
“Highways are designed to have a design speed that is appropriate to the road category and terrain. But safe speed is not just a matter of road category and terrain. The purpose and actual use of highways in India is very different,” he said, adding that safe speed also depends on the prevailing road environment, control over parking, facilities for pedestrians and cyclists as well as education and awareness of drivers and other road users.
He also stressed that timely emergency care also plays an important role in deaths.
“All these aspects have distinct shortcomings that increase the risk of accidents on highways. Unsafe speed and lack of enforcement not only increase the risk of accidents but also have a significant impact on mortality. In India, mobility has been given more priority than survival. It is impossible to ignore the fact that road development in our country is completely mobility-driven without emphasizing the safety of all road users. We measure highways by how fast vehicles go. are, not how safely people return home,” he said.
Ranjit Gadgil, program director of Pariser, a Pune-based NGO working on sustainable urban transport and road safety, echoed similar sentiments, saying data from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways shows that the severity (deaths per 100 accidents) is much higher for highways, which clearly shows the impact of speed.
“Although the highways constitute only 2% of the network, they also carry a very high percentage of the traffic volume… the mix of traffic, high speeds, low enforcement (due to the huge size and scattered network) all contribute to the high fatality rate,” he said, adding that pedestrians are another unusual aspect of Indian highway accidents that reflects the proximity of highways to human activities with weak safety measures.
He said the number of people killed trying to cross the highway revealed flaws in the planning.
Gadgil says roadside encroachment is clearly a result of political patronage and corruption, as it is a significant contributing factor to the safety of highways.
“Though it is difficult to enforce traffic on highways, due to the dispersed and rural nature of the highway network, encroachments can be checked from time to time and action taken. The lack of accountability is a gap in the existing system,” he said.
Speaking about the secure system approach, Maitra said that all departments have to accept responsibilities individually and collectively to create a secure system.
“This is not happening in India. NHAI does construction, local administrations regulate land use, police enforce movements, transport departments monitor vehicles, yet when a fatal accident occurs, accountability is dispersed. In India, safety functions are reactive whereas they need to be proactive,” he said.
Maitra further said that encroachment and illegal parking are tolerated until tragedy forces action.
Why does highway design matter?
Both experts agreed that geometric design elements are certainly important in the context of road accidents.
Maitra said, “Narrow or absent shoulders leave no recovery space. Poor median design translates loss of control into a head-on collision. Unsafe turns, inappropriate sight distance and poorly designed intersections increase crash risk. Geometry is not cosmetic, it is life-saving engineering.”
He explained that when the design goes wrong, enforcement becomes damage control. However, the most important factor for accident severity is speed.
“Speed is the biggest factor contributing to fatalities. If the geometric elements are lacking, the risk of an accident will be higher. However, even in such situations the severity of the accident can be controlled by proper speed management,” Maitra said.
He also pointed out that in India, “very profitable” road accidents are termed as accidents, as this absolves responsibility. “This makes death inevitable rather than preventable. In fact, most serious accidents are the predictable results of unsafe design, poor enforcement, delayed trauma care, and weak institutional coordination.”
Gadgil also said that the relationship between geometric design elements and crash severity on highways is strong and direct, as these features influence vehicle speed, collision points and driver behavior.
“Wide lanes often encourage higher speeds, which can increase crash severity, while moderately narrow lanes can help reduce speeds in appropriate contexts. Well-designed, paved shoulders provide significant recovery space, reducing the likelihood of serious run-off-road accidents. Median design is particularly important; continuous, wide, or barrier-protected medians significantly reduce the risk of fatal head-on collisions, Whereas repeated openings increase friction points,” he said.
Citing evidence from a report on prosperity highway By Pariser, he stated that with increased operating speed even a small design error rapidly increases the lethal risk.
“So design geometry that ostensibly allows higher speeds worsens the outcome. Indian Road Congress standards recognize these links, but inconsistent, context-blind applications (mixed traffic, poor access controls) often undermine safety performance in practice. In short, geometry does not just influence whether accidents occur, it strongly determines how severe they are,” he said.
Real Test: Implementation
Gadgil said that the constant monitoring and directions issued by the Supreme Court have definitely made a difference and some action can be expected from the government.
“However, the responsibility to take and implement the right decisions still lies with the state governments; the court cannot be a substitute for the executive… As always, it is only the collective action of all stakeholders that will bring about change,” he said.
Maitra said that this decision of the Supreme Court can pave the way for necessary and immediate interventions towards enhancing the safety of all road users. This changes road safety from an administrative advice to a constitutional obligation under Article 21, and thereby changes the language of accountability.
“But orders do not save lives; implementation does. The real test will be whether district collectors, police chiefs, NHAI officials and state governments act within the given timelines – not whether compliance affidavits are filed or not,” he said, adding that policy implementation in India varies widely.
A collective and coordinated effort of all stakeholders including transport, police, health, education and others at both the Central and State levels is the key to success.
“If this decision creates measurable accountability at the district level, it could be transformative. If not, it risks joining the long list of excellent orders with poor outcomes at the ground level,” he said.
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