Death on the move: On India’s disgraceful record in fatal road accidents

7 months ago 3
ARTICLE AD BOX

The road mishap connected November 3, 2025 that claimed 19 lives astatine Chevella adjacent Hyderabad was acold excessively regular to alteration India’s disgraceful grounds successful fatal roadworthy accidents. The operator of a gravel-laden motortruck seemingly swerved to debar a pothole and rammed into a bus. There were nary dividers, nary streetlights and nary signages connected that agelong of National Highway 163. India’s roads are a large nationalist hazard. Pedestrians, autobus riders and two-wheeler motorists represent the bulk of the implicit 400 radical who dice connected India’s roads connected average, the equivalent to a afloat transcontinental formation going down. Flight disasters invitation scrutiny, multi-agency probes and speedy remedial actions but roadworthy mishap deaths that mostly impact poorer people trigger perfunctory probes and glacial alteration successful rules, if any. Government documents place quality mistake arsenic the astir communal origin but deeper reasons — vehicular and infrastructural — are unaddressed.

In India, the roadworthy trial for getting a driving licence examines whether the idiosyncratic is capable to grip a conveyance of definite specification, mostly a accomplishment test, alternatively than 1 of his cognition and execution of harmless driving practices. No information grooming is mandated. Most accidents are collisions from the backmost — whereas exemplar driving tests successful different countries filter retired tailgating tendencies and arbitrary lane changing. The strategy of certifying and monitoring drivers and vehicles is breached and corrupt. For astir each Indians, navigating RTOs is unpleasant. The SaveLIFE Foundation advocates License Seva Kendras — connected the lines of Passport Seva Kendras — truthful that they are transparent, digitised, and guarantee bully operator skills and information awareness. One successful 5 accidents are head-on collisions, which person happened adjacent connected four-lane highways, indicating wrong-side driving and the authorities of roadworthy dividers. In general, nationalist highways request to adhere to Indian Roads Congress guidelines but States person made nary mandates arsenic required by the Motor Vehicles Act. There are potholes, unsafe curves, drainage systems, span parapets and factual objects, but nary clang barriers oregon vigor absorbers. Collision-risk informing devices are comparatively inexpensive and tin beryllium mandated connected commercialized vehicles. Better pedestrian infrastructure unsocial tin forestall galore fatalities. In Hyderabad, a assemblage health-care centre was disposable for contiguous attraction and a authorities infirmary was not acold away. But that is often not the lawsuit elsewhere. In States specified arsenic Bihar, fatality rates are treble due to the fact that of inadequate trauma attraction infrastructure. An overhaul of the roadworthy transport strategy is an urgent request successful India.

Published - November 06, 2025 12:20 americium IST

Read Entire Article