Safe Road Rules in Place, But Enforcement and Funding Lag Behind

India’s rapid urbanization and vehicle growth have brought with them a troubling reality — pedestrian deaths are rising at an alarming rate. Despite strong legal frameworks and new road safety standards, implementation gaps, weak enforcement, and lack of dedicated funding continue to threaten lives on Indian roads.

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Pedestrian Fatalities on the Rise

Official government data highlights a distressing trend: pedestrian deaths in India surged from 25,858 in 2019 to 35,221 in 2023, marking an increase of nearly 36% in four years. This means that 96 pedestrians die every single day due to road accidents — a grim indicator of unsafe urban infrastructure.

In response to this crisis, the Supreme Court of India intervened on October 7, 2025, issuing a 35-point directive in a public interest litigation filed in 2012. The directive seeks to enforce safer road designs, pedestrian facilities, and stricter accountability for non-compliance with safety norms.

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Supreme Court’s Directives for Safer Roads

The apex court emphasized that Indian Road Congress (IRC) standards are already mandated under Section 138(1)(c) of the Motor Vehicles Act. Any agency failing to comply with these standards could face penalties of up to ₹1 lakh under Section 198A.

The court also directed all states and union territories to:

• Frame and notify rules under Sections 138(1A) and 210D to regulate pedestrian access.

• Ensure road designs on non-highway roads meet IRC standards.

• Retrofit pedestrian crossings on at least 20% of road networks in 50 cities within a year — prioritizing schools, hospitals, and transport hubs.

• Conduct joint safety audits and create grievance redressal systems for road users.

The Supreme Court’s message was clear — roads must be safe by design, not by accident.

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Indian Road Congress (IRC): The Technical Backbone

Established in 1934, the IRC is India’s top technical authority on road standards. It has published over 150 codes and manuals, covering every aspect of road construction and maintenance. Key standards include:

• IRC:73 – Geometric design of rural roads.

• IRC:86 – Highway drainage.

• IRC:103 – Pedestrian facilities.

• IRC:11 – Cycle tracks.

While compliance became mandatory for all roads after the 2022 Motor Vehicles Act amendments, in reality, implementation remains patchy. Only Odisha and Maharashtra have framed draft rules aligned with the law.

A study by IIT Delhi’s Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Centre revealed huge disparities — while Maharashtra had 56% footpath availability, Jammu & Kashmir had less than 5%, highlighting how far India is from ensuring pedestrian safety nationwide.

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Design Standards: The Foundation of Road Safety

Road design standards govern every element of mobility — from lane width and sight distance to pedestrian crossings and crash barriers. They define how vehicles, cyclists, and pedestrians share space safely.

In urban areas, these standards extend to:

• Footpaths and cycle tracks.

• Tactile paving for visually impaired citizens.

• Traffic calming features such as raised crossings and curb extensions.

If enforced effectively, such standards could reduce pedestrian deaths, improve accessibility, and enhance the durability of roads.

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Implementation Hurdles and Fragmented Accountability

India’s road governance is fragmented across multiple agencies. A single road stretch could be managed by the NHAI, state PWDs, or municipal bodies, each with varying budgets, expertise, and supervision quality.

According to S. Velmurugan, Chief Scientist at the Central Road Research Institute, this fragmentation dilutes accountability and results in inconsistent safety standards across neighboring regions.

While the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) often takes action against private contractors for poor road quality, rarely are government officials held accountable for design or maintenance failures.

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Institutional and Skill Gaps

Despite having laws and codes in place, India lacks trained manpower to implement them.

As Rohit Baluja, President of the Institute of Road Traffic Education, points out:

“We have the law and the technical codes, but we don’t have the people trained to implement them.”

Most highway engineers specialize in construction, not traffic engineering. Police officers, who manage daily traffic, lack training in road design or enforcement principles. Engineering colleges, too, emphasize structural design over human-centric urban planning, leading to a shortage of professionals skilled in safe road development.

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Procurement, Funding, and Practical Bottlenecks

Outdated procurement practices and limited budgets further stall progress. Traditional road tenders are focused on widening and resurfacing, not on pedestrian safety or design integration.

Municipalities, unlike national authorities, struggle for funds. While low-cost solutions like raised crossings or lane separators can be implemented, comprehensive street redesigns require dedicated financial support.

Experts argue that while India now has some of the most advanced pedestrian design standards in the developing world, the challenge lies in execution and scaling.

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Case Study: Bengaluru’s TenderSURE Model

Bengaluru’s TenderSURE project stands out as a successful model for inclusive street design. The initiative aligned surface design with underground utilities, coordinated multiple departments, and restructured tender documents to prioritize pedestrian infrastructure.

Cities like Pune, Chennai, and Indore have followed similar models, but progress remains limited due to high costs — complete-street designs can be 20 times more expensive per kilometer than traditional roads.

Unfortunately, most Indian cities have only managed to upgrade small, affluent neighborhoods, leaving lower-income and high-density areas behind.

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The Way Forward: From Rules to Reality

India has made impressive progress in developing comprehensive road design standards. But the gap between legislation and implementation remains vast.

To make Indian roads truly safe, policymakers and city planners must:

• Strengthen inter-agency coordination and public accountability.

• Invest in capacity building for engineers and enforcement officers.

• Prioritize pedestrian infrastructure funding through state and municipal budgets.

• Institutionalize data-driven monitoring of road fatalities and compliance.

As Piyush Tewari, CEO of SaveLIFE Foundation, rightly said —

“India’s roads must become safe by design, not by chance.”

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