New Delhi, April 19 -- In a significant intervention on road safety, the Supreme Court has issued a comprehensive set of directions aimed at reducing accidents on national highways and expressways across India, warning that such roads must not become "corridors of peril" due to administrative inaction or infrastructure shortcomings.
A bench comprising Justices JK Maheshwari and AS Chandurkar underlined the disproportionate share of fatalities occurring on national highways, noting that while they make up only about two per cent of the country's total road network, they account for nearly 30 per cent of road deaths. The court described this imbalance as a matter of urgent concern requiring coordinated action from multiple authorities.
The directions were issued to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, the National Highways Authority of India, and all States and Union Territories. The court said that preventable hazards such as illegal parking and accident-prone stretches reflect systemic lapses. "The loss of even a single life to avoidable hazards like illegal parking or blackspots represents a failure of the State's protective umbrella," the bench observed, adding that the right to life under Article 21 includes an obligation to ensure safe conditions for citizens.
The order, dated April 13, arose from a suo motu case initiated after two major accidents on November 2 and 3, 2025, in Phalodi, Rajasthan, and Rangareddy, Telangana, which together claimed 34 lives. The court pointed to these incidents as examples of "systemic negligence and catastrophic infrastructure failures".
Invoking its powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, the bench said the safety of commuters is intrinsic to the right to live with dignity. It added that financial or administrative limitations cannot justify delays in implementing safety measures and that strict timelines have been imposed to reflect the urgency of the issue.
Among the key directives is a complete prohibition on the parking or stopping of heavy and commercial vehicles on national highway carriageways or paved shoulders, except in designated lay-bys or parking zones. Enforcement is to be carried out through the Advanced Traffic Management System, which will use real-time alerts to police, GPS-enabled photographic evidence, and integrated e-challan systems.
Authorities including NHAI officials, state police, and transport departments have been instructed to ensure compliance within 60 days. District magistrates have been tasked with developing standard operating procedures for regular inspections and patrolling.
The court also ordered an immediate halt to the construction or operation of new roadside establishments such as dhabas and eateries within the Right of Way of national highways. It directed district administrations to remove all unauthorised structures, both existing and new, within 60 days, following procedures laid out under the Control of National Highways Act and a standard operating procedure issued on August 7, 2025.
Further, no authority or local body is permitted to grant or renew licences, no-objection certificates, or trade approvals for sites within designated highway safety zones without prior clearance from NHAI or the Public Works Department. Existing approvals must be reviewed within 30 days.
To strengthen institutional coordination, the court ordered the formation of district-level highway safety task forces. These bodies, to be set up within 15 days, will include representatives from the administration, police, NHAI or relevant land-owning agencies, PWD, and local bodies.
Additional measures include enhanced surveillance and patrolling, identification and correction of accident blackspots, improved lighting, development of truck lay-bys, and operationalisation of traffic management systems with cameras, speed monitoring devices, and emergency response mechanisms.
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has been directed to submit a compliance report within 75 days, after collecting data from states and relevant agencies. The matter has been scheduled for review after two months.
The court had earlier indicated on December 15 its intention to frame nationwide guidelines to address rising accidents on highways and expressways, a process that has now culminated in these directions.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.