New Delhi: For the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic, India has reported a fall in fatalities on its national highways, and development officials are hailing it as evidence that road safety interventions are beginning to take hold.
According to figures tabled in the Lok Sabha by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), deaths on national highways and centrally managed expressways dropped 4.1 per cent in the past year, sliding from 64,772 to 62,122.
The reversal comes after years of steadily rising fatalities as traffic volumes surged back to pre-pandemic levels. While overall road accidents across the country—including those on state highways and city roads—continued to climb, the national highway network showed a rare improvement.
The government attributes the decline to its “4E strategy”—Education, Engineering, Enforcement and Emergency Care. Officials point to large-scale rectification of accident-prone blackspots, improved road design, better signage, tighter access control, and expanded use of speed cameras and electronic monitoring.
Emergency response initiatives, including cashless treatment schemes aimed at saving lives during the critical “golden hour,” were also highlighted as key factors.
Among states, Uttar Pradesh led the improvement, recording a sharp fall in highway deaths from 9,560 to 7,573. Madhya Pradesh followed with a reduction from 4,644 to 3,610, while Punjab saw fatalities decline from 1,562 to 1,022.
Yet the picture was uneven: fifteen states and Union Territories reported increases, with Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Bihar among those registering higher tolls.
Despite the encouraging trend, experts caution that India’s road safety challenge remains formidable. Overspeeding continues to be the leading cause of fatal crashes, followed by wrong-side driving, driver fatigue and mobile phone distraction.
The latest figures, compiled through the government’s electronic Detailed Accident Report (e-DAR) portal, suggest progress but underline the need for sustained enforcement and infrastructure upgrades to maintain momentum.
The decline in highway deaths offers a glimmer of hope in a country that has long struggled with one of the world’s highest road fatality rates. Whether this marks the beginning of a lasting shift will depend on how consistently the government and states can build on these early gains.
(IANS)
