Multi-Stakeholder Workshop on Road Safety Action Plan for Tamil Nadu

India has seen a consistent rise in road crash fatalities, driven by expanding road networks and faster vehicles, recording the highest number of road accidents in India for five consecutive years (2018-2022). In 2023 alone, Tamil Nadu recorded 18,347 road fatalities, with Chennai alone accounting for 504 of these deaths. While the state was an early adopter of a Road Safety Policy in 2007, an updated and structured State Road Safety Action Plan is critical to achieving the national goal of reducing road accident deaths by 50% by 2030.

To highlight the need for robust plans and policies to address the tragedy of lives and livelihoods lost on our roads, Citizen consumer and civic Action Group (CAG) hosted a multi-stakeholder workshop aimed at developing a State Road Safety Action Plan. Mr. Shunchonngam Jatak Chiru, IAS (Transport Commissioner), speaking at the event,  highlighted the  gap between policy and implementation. He urged all stakeholders present at the workshop to devise solutions to address the same.