The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the National Road Safety Board (NRSB) held an institutional meeting at NHAI headquarters in New Delhi to undertake a comprehensive review of road safety systems across the National Highway network and explore measures to reduce road accidents.
The meeting was attended by NRSB Chairman Dr Nitin R. Gokarn and NHAI Chairman Santosh Kumar Yadav. Members of the NRSB, officials from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, NHAI, state administrations and road safety experts were also present.
The deliberations marked a step towards establishing a structured institutional framework for sustained collaboration between NHAI and the NRSB, with a focus on strengthening road safety governance, improving highway safety standards and accelerating accident-reduction efforts.
During the meeting, NHAI presented an overview of the current road safety management system on National Highways, covering safety performance and emerging trends, institutional arrangements, highway engineering and operations, road safety audits, black spot management, speed management, Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) and other technology-enabled interventions.
The presentation also covered emergency response and post-crash care, monitoring and performance management, citizen engagement and user-centric services, commercial vehicle safety and driver welfare, along with key challenges and future priorities for improving road safety.
The discussions reviewed existing institutional arrangements, engineering practices and operational systems and identified opportunities to strengthen road safety through the adoption of a Safe System approach.
The approach covers six strategic areas: risk identification, safe highway engineering and prevention; safe highway operations, commercial vehicle safety and Intelligent Transport Systems; emergency response, incident management and citizen-centric safety; digital safety management, monitoring and decision-support systems; performance monitoring, governance and institutional accountability; and a strategic roadmap for National Highway road safety.
NHAI and the NRSB will continue their engagement through periodic review meetings to address emerging challenges and strengthen road safety interventions.
The meeting also included a detailed diagnostic review of the existing road safety ecosystem, with particular emphasis on technology-enabled interventions and emergency response mechanisms.
Dr Gokarn appreciated NHAI’s adoption of advanced technologies, including Advanced Traffic Management Systems (ATMS), predictive Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions and digital mapping of ambulances to improve incident response and emergency services.
He stressed the need to identify the top 10 accident-prone locations across the country and strengthen first-response capabilities at toll plazas by providing first-aid training to toll personnel, enabling them to provide timely assistance to road accident victims.
The meeting also emphasised the need for NHAI field offices to work closely with state administrations and keep them informed about road safety initiatives to ensure better coordination.
The interaction marks the beginning of a structured and sustained institutional partnership between NHAI and the NRSB aimed at strengthening the road safety ecosystem and improving safety standards across India’s National Highway network.
