Knowledge Nugget: Road Accidents in India — Causes, reports and UPSC relevance

In today’s Knowledge nugget, let’s look at the important findings related to road accidents that have been published in recent times, with important recommendations and steps taken by the government to address it.

Key takeaways:

1. India has the second-largest road network in the world, totalling about 63.45 lakh km. This comprises National Highways, Expressways, state highways, Major district roads, other district roads, and village roads. The data laid in the Lok Sabha showed that NHs account for over 36% of road accident deaths, though it forms only 2.3% of the total road network.

Source: MoRTH data in Lok Sabha

2. In terms of the number of annual road accident fatalities, India tops globally, followed by China, which accounts for just 36% of India’s total road deaths, and the US at 25%. India has the second-largest road network in the world — about 63.45 lakh km, including 1.46 lakh km of NHs and 1.80 lakh km of state highways, and other Roads for 63.45 lakh km.

4. According to data presented by Nitin Gadkari, the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, in Lok Sabha in December, 1.77 lakh people died in road accidents in 2024, an increase of 2.31 per cent from 2023, when 1.73 lakh fatalities were recorded in 4.80 lakh road accidents.

5. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) and the NGO SaveLIFE Foundation have released a joint report of India’s top 100 districts in terms of severity of road accident fatalities, on January 8, 2026, ranking Maharashtra’s Nashik Rural at the top, followed by Pune Rural, Patna, and Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar.

The key findings of the report are:

*As many as 59% of all road accident fatalities do not involve any traffic violation, indicating that road engineering is one of the biggest contributory factors for deaths.

*As many as 53% of deaths occur in accidents occurring between 6 pm and 12 am, and eight out of 10 victims are hospitalised by means other than the government’s 108 ambulance service.

6. The findings shed light on what is derailing India’s efforts to make its roads safer. They noted that most accidents are concentrated in known locations, such as specific road stretches, crash-prone spots, and police station areas. It noted that if the government’s schemes and budgets are directed toward such locations, a significant number of deaths could be prevented.

7. The report also stated that 89,085 people died in these 100 districts alone during 2023 and 2024, accounting for over a quarter of all road accident deaths during that period in India. A total of 3.5 lakh people died in 9.68 lakh accidents in these two years.

8. The data show that 63% of the total road crash fatalities occur outside of the National Highways. “The road crashes and consequent fatalities are shaped by local road design, policing patterns and hospital readiness,” the report said.

9. According to the report, damaged crash barriers, absent or faded pavement markings, unprotected hard structures, damaged or wrong signage, and inadequate illumination are among the top 20 most common engineering issues on the road.

10. To curb accidents and fatalities on NHs, MoRTH implemented a multi-pronged strategy based on four key pillars: education, engineering (both of roads and vehicles), enforcement, and emergency care.

The Stockholm Declaration on Road Safety, adopted at the 3rd Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in February 2020, set a global target to reduce road traffic deaths and injuries by 50% by 2030. India is a signatory to that.

Recommendations made by the Report:

* The report recommended that NHAI and state PWDs should conduct a comprehensive Road Safety Survey on each corridor and identify the prevalence of engineering issues from the list of 20 repetitive issues on each critical corridor.

* For the critical crash-prone locations, it has recommended site-specific interventions under the relevant Indian Road Congress (IRC) and MoRTH guidelines.

* Along with this, it has recommended upgrading the critical police stations with adequate manpower for undertaking enforcement activities, auditing all 108 ambulances for compliance with the National Ambulance code and setting a target for 108 ambulances to cover 75% of hospitalisations.

* The report stated that no new schemes are needed to reduce fatalities. Instead, existing government schemes must be utilised effectively, with better coordination among key departments — police, hospitals, and road agencies.

BEYOND THE NUGGET: Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) safety technology and Network Survey Vehicles (NSVs)

V2V safety technology

1. The government is planning to launch Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) safety technology to prevent road accident deaths and reduce traffic. The government has not yet announced any specific date for rolling out this system.

2. V2V or vehicle-to-vehicle communication is a wireless technology that will enable the vehicles to communicate or talk with one another to share real-time information like speed, location, acceleration, braking, etc. It is the sub-category of Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) and comes under the umbrella of the Intelligent Transport System.

3. The system is similar to the aviation sector technology, where aircraft broadcast their position, speed, altitude, and the nearby aircraft and ground stations receive it. While this system is fortified in the aviation sector across the world, the road sector is still evolving, and V2V is working in a few countries, mostly developed nations.

4. For the V2V system, an On Board Unit (OBU) will be installed in cars so that nearby vehicles can exchange information among vehicles wirelessly. It will alert the driver about the black spots, obstacles, parked vehicles on roadsides, fog or any potential threat. Usually, V2V systems have a range of 300 metres and can detect vehicles in this range.

Network Survey Vehicles (NSVs)

5. NHAI has announced that it will deploy Network Survey Vehicles (NSVs) in 23 states, covering 20,933 km of National Highways (NHs), for the collection, processing, and analysis of road inventory and pavement condition data.

6. An NSV is usually a specialised van or SUV equipped with multiple sensors and instruments, such as Laser, Global Positioning System (GPS), Video image processing tools, High-resolution cameras, Inertial Measurement Units (IMU), and DMI (Distance Measuring Indicator).

7. These vehicles will collect data on the condition of NHs. The collected data will be further used to make decisions for pavement maintenance, asset management, and infrastructure planning.

Post Read Question

Consider the following statements:

1. The annual road accident fatalities are highest in India.

2. India is a signatory to the Stockholm Declaration on Road Safety.

3. To curb road accidents, Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) safety technology is made mandatory in 2024.

Which of the following statements mentioned above is/are correct?

(a) 1 and 2 only

(b) 2 and 3 only

(c) 1, 2, and 3

(d) None

(Sources: Accidents, fatalities on NHs fell 11% in 2025 as UP, MP led the way, shows data, India misses road accident target again as crashes, fatalities creep up in 2024, Rural Nashik, Pune report most severe road accidents: What is derailing India’s road safety efforts?, How will NHAI’s Network Survey Vehicles scour 20,000 km of highways for defects?)

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