Road crashes remain one of the leading causes of death in India and are an escalating public health emergency. In 2022, the country recorded a staggering 461,312 road crashes, resulting in 1,68,491 fatalities, a 9.4% increase in fatalities from the previous year. This was the highest number of road crash fatalities in any country in the world and accounted for 11% of the world’s road crashes.
To demonstrate its obligation to improving road safety, India is a part of several global road safety commitments, such as the UN Second Decade of Action for Road Safety (2021–2030), which sets a target to reduce road traffic fatalities and injuries by at least 50% by 2030. India is a signatory to the Stockholm Declaration, which also aims to halve the number of fatalities and serious injuries on roads by 2030. In 2021, the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Mr. Nitin Gadkari, mentioned that India is aiming to reduce road crashes and fatalities by 50% before the year 2025.
To meet these ambitious targets, India must maintain consistent and strategic efforts, integrating road safety into broader development and transport planning agendas.
India has a comprehensive Act which regulates road transport and road safety, which is the Motor Vehicles Act of 1988. It is a national-level legal framework which regulates enforcement, penalties, and certain institutional mechanisms. However, road safety challenges vary significantly across states due to differences in infrastructure, enforcement capacity, travel behaviour and urban–rural dynamics. Therefore, it is crucial to have State-level policies and action plans that are tailored to local needs and contexts.
Road safety scenario in Tamil Nadu
In 2022, Tamil Nadu reported the highest number of road accidents in India (67,703 cases, 15.3% of the national total) and the second-highest number of fatalities (17,884 deaths, 10.6%). Tamil Nadu’s fatality rate per 10,000 vehicles stood at 5.6%, also higher than the national average of 5.2%. Notably, the State has ranked first in the number of road crashes for five consecutive years (2018–2022). These numbers and statistics underscore the urgent need for the State to improve road safety and reduce road crashes and fatalities.
That said, the State has been actively undertaking measures to improve road safety. Notably, Tamil Nadu was the first State in the country to draft a Road Safety Policy in 2007. This preceded the National Road Safety Policy, which was only introduced in 2010.
A State Road Safety Policy is a State-level guiding document that sets a vision for the State, outlining the State’s commitment to road safety and its guiding principles. Tamil Nadu’s Road Safety Policy vision was to stop and reverse the rising trend of road accidents in the State. It included a medium-term objective of a 20% reduction in road accident fatalities and injuries by 2013, keeping 2006 as the base year. This was a promising step, as the objective clearly defined both a time frame and a baseline year for measuring impact. The policy also outlined action items across key focus areas such as effective enforcement, safe speeds, and responsible driving, among others..
Although the policy initially served as a guiding document, it has not been updated since then. As a result, it no longer reflects the evolving nature of road safety challenges or incorporates recent developments and technological advancements. The policy needs an urgent update as otherwise, it risks becoming outdated and disconnected from current on-ground realities. Updating it should also fix identified lacunae - namely, the lack of a clear roadmap for implementation. Without defined steps, timelines, and accountability mechanisms, the policy risks remaining just a document on paper with limited on-ground impact.
At the same time, to translate intent into action, Tamil Nadu needs a comprehensive and structured Road Safety Action Plan (RSAP).
What is a Road Safety Action Plan?
A Road Safety Action Plan is a time-bound, practical, and goal-oriented roadmap that outlines how a State will reduce road crashes, injuries, and fatalities. An Action Plan is proactive, aiming to align the State with national and global safety targets while addressing local challenges. In essence, it is the “how-to manual” for making roads safer. It moves from broad intention to focused execution.
The Supreme Court of India had directed all States to develop Road Safety Action Plans by March 2018. The Gujarat Road Safety Authority prepared Strategic Action Plans for 2020–21 and 2022–23. Between 2012 and 2021, despite a 43% rise in vehicle registrations, the State achieved a 45% reduction in road accidents. Rajasthan is among the first to adopt a 10-year Road Safety Action Plan, launched in July 2024 and its implementation starting in 2025. The plan aims to cut road accidents by 50% by 2030.
What can it do to improve our road safety standards?
Tamil Nadu has reached a point where piecemeal solutions and reactive enforcement are no longer enough. The State needs a unified, accountable system to coordinate across departments, move beyond penalties to prevention, and track progress to make data-driven decisions. Without an Action Plan, every department works in isolation, interventions are short-term, and the same mistakes get repeated every year at the cost of thousands of lives.
A Road Safety Action Plan (RSAP) bridges the gap between policy and practice. Unlike a broad policy that outlines intent, an Action Plan provides the operational roadmap by defining what needs to be done, by whom, and by when. It spells out specific interventions needed to tackle problems, the agencies responsible for implementing them, and the time frame within which the actions must be completed.
Road safety requires a multi-sectoral approach involving transport authorities, police, health departments, urban planners, engineers, and civil society. A State Road Safety Action Plan (RSAP) serves as the critical framework that brings these diverse stakeholders together under a unified strategy and in a coordinated way. By clearly assigning responsibilities, setting timelines, identifying priority interventions, and allocating resources, an RSAP ensures that efforts are not only aligned but also accountable and outcome-driven. It includes mechanisms for regular monitoring and evaluation, making it possible to assess what’s working, make course corrections, and ensure sustained progress. An RSAP also prioritises road safety awareness through public campaigns and educational initiatives, fostering a culture of safety among all road users.
For example, one of the action items under the heading ‘Safe Road Infrastructure’ in the Tamil Nadu Road Safety Policy says: “Continuously identify accident-prone areas ('black spots') on the basis of accident intensity and severity using appropriate indicators and make effective improvements.”
A well-designed Road Safety Action Plan (RSAP) would operationalise this policy item by first clearly defining what constitutes a black spot, either by using uniform indicators or aligning with MoRTH’s definition. It would then allocate specific roles and responsibilities to various stakeholders: police departments for accurate and timely crash reporting, highways and urban local bodies for conducting engineering assessments, and a designated lead agency for coordination, prioritisation, and approval of rectification measures. The plan would lay out a fixed timeline for identification and treatment, for instance, mandating that black spots be identified every quarter at the district level, followed by systematic rectification. To ensure continuous improvement, the RSAP will mandate maintaining a rolling priority list of high-risk sites, with special attention to locations where Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs) such as pedestrians, cyclists, and children are most at risk. It would set measurable and outcome oriented targets, such as identifying and rectifying at least 200 black spots annually and aiming to reduce fatalities at these locations by 30%.
Furthermore, an Action Plan will institutionalise a direct link between funding, approvals, and safety outcomes, for example, that dedicated allocations from the State Road Safety Fund could be earmarked for black spot rectification. A RSAP would also strengthen transparency and accountability by requiring before and after crash data analysis for every treated site, mandating annual third-party audits, and publishing these findings on a public dashboard.
This kind of structured approach becomes significant in ensuring that safety interventions are not just reactive, but evidence-based, measurable and continuously monitored.
Ironically, Tamil Nadu once served as a model for other States. Rajasthan’s acclaimed Road Safety Road Map 2020, for instance, was inspired by Tamil Nadu’s early initiatives. But the pioneering State itself is yet to adopt a comprehensive Action Plan.
Now is the time for Tamil Nadu to reclaim its leadership in road safety by developing a robust, forward looking Road Safety Action Plan. Policies may set the vision, but it is only through structured, time-bound, and accountable action that real change occurs. A well crafted Road Safety Action Plan can transform vision into impact, saving lives, reducing injuries, and making roads safer for all.
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