Parliament Question: Safety Norms on NHs

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 66 ANSWERED ON 29THJANUARY, 2026 SAFETY NORMS ON NHs 66. Shri Manickam Tagore B: Shri Vijayakumar Alias Vijay Vasanth: Will the Minister of ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS सड़क परिवहन औि िाजमार्ग मंत्री be pleased to state: (a) whether the Government acknowledges that the absence of continuous service roads on National Highways (NHs) forces dangerous U-turns, illegal crossings, unsafe mixing of local traffic i.e. pedestrians and two-wheelers with high-speed highway traffic and wrong-side driving, thereby making these highways unsafe for both local commuters and long-distance traffic, if so, the details thereof; (b) whether any concrete accountability measures have been imposed on engineers, consultants and contractors of the National Highways Authority of India whose flawed highway designs have converted key economic corridors into accident-prone and fear-inducing stretches and if so, the details thereof; (c) the data on accidents, grievous injuries and fatalities at identified black spots, year-wise and location-wise indicating the number of lives lost prior to the initiation of corrective measures, State-wise, particularly in Tamil Nadu; (d) whether a number of accident-prone zones on National Highways in Tamil Nadu and other States remain unidentified and whether the Government continues to rely largely on post-fatality data instead ofproactive, scientific road safety audits and if so, the reasons therefor; and (e) whether pedestrian underpasses, vehicular underpasses and light vehicular underpasses were omitted at the initial stage of highway construction and undertaken subsequently only after fatalities, protests and media reports, despite evidence of heavy pedestrian movement near hospitals, markets, bus stops schools and residential clusters along these highways and if so, the reasons therefor? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS (SHRI NITIN JAIRAM GADKARI) (a) National Highways (NHs) works are carried out as per standards, guidelines, manual, code of practice of Indian Roads Congress as well as specifications for Road and Bridge Works. Necessary road safety measures inter-alia include provision of service roads, median openings, merging and diverging facilities, crash barriers, signage boards, foot over bridges, etc. are invariably part of the NHs works. Further, Road Safety Audit is carried out for the independent assessment of newly constructed roads before opening them to commercial traffic. All identified road safety issues, including those related to road signage and markings, are addressed before the road is opened to the public. Subsequently, during the operation of the project highway, assessment is carried out at regular intervals to identify safety issues that may have emerged during operation stage and any necessary remedial measures are taken in a time-bound manner. Besides this, accident data on all NHs is monitored on a pan-India basis through the eDAR portal (Electronic Detailed Accident Report), and accident spots are identified. Necessary remedial action on these identified accident spots, preventing them from converting to blackspots are immediately taken up.(b) All the accident spots are duly studied and remedial measures including improvement proposals are invariably part of the Detailed Project Report (DPR). Further outcome of the Road Safety Audit is also incorporated in the DPR. Thereafter also, if any flaw in design is noticed at the construction stage, then the same gets rectified alongwith the penal action on the DPR consultants. For any flaw in construction, action is taken on the Independent Engineers/ Authority Engineers /contractors / concessionaires as per the provisions of contract agreement. (c) State-wise details of accidents including fatalities on all the black spots in the country including the state of Tamilnadu at time of identification is Annexed. (d) Government has launched the Electronic Detailed Accident Report System with online reporting facilities of accidents in the country including Tamilnadu. This enables immediately noticing the accident spots. Accordingly, such spots which are on National Highways (NHs) are visited immediately by field officers and appropriate short term measures are taken. Long term rectification works are undertaken after detailed study as these includes improvement of road geometrics, junction improvements, spot widening of carriageway, construction of underpasses/overpasses etc. Further as a proactive measure, Road Safety Audit (RSA) on NHs has been made mandatory through third party auditors/experts at all stages i.e. design, construction, operation and maintenance etc. As per outcome of the report, corrective measures are undertaken. (e) The provisions of pedestrian underpasses, vehicular underpasses and light vehicular underpasses are invariably made at the time of preparation of detailed project report as per traffic density, pedestrians' movement and site requirement.ANNEXURE REFERED TO IN REPLY TO PART (C) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 66 TO BE ANSWERED ON 29TH JANUARY, 2026 ASKED BY SHRI MANICKAM TAGORE B & SHRI VIJAYAKUMAR ALIAS VIJAY VASANTH REGARDING SAFETY NORMS ON NHs. STATE Number of Fatalities Number of Accidents Andaman and Nicobar 8 20 Andhra Pradesh 7689 13572 Arunachal Pradesh 38 121 Assam 2053 2958 Bihar 3488 3850 Chandigarh 48 58 Chhattisgarh 1704 2138 Daman & Diu 5 5 Delhi 1334 4329 Goa 222 537 Gujarat 2964 4396 Haryana 1287 1958 Himachal Pradesh 812 1821 Jammu & Kashmir 706 2603 Jharkhand 1648 2002 Karnataka 7391 16220 Kerala 1973 16296 Ladakh 56 169 Madhya Pradesh 5421 9116 Maharashtra 4125 6175 Manipur 59 327 Meghalaya 192 1057 Mizoram 17 15 Nagaland 47 798 Odisha 3454 6483 Puducherry 335 860 Punjab 5204 6654 Rajasthan 8712 12586 Sikkim 78 239 Tamil Nadu 8487 23841Telangana 5342 12381 Tripura 88 236 Uttar Pradesh 11865 17182 Uttarakhand 686 643 West Bengal 5978 10824 *****