National Policy for Accident Prevention

May 25, 2026

Punjab was the first state to announce that it was establishing

accidents within the state and to provide assistance to

victims. This force will be stationed on the roads and, upon

receiving information about an accident, will reach the

crash site within minutes to assist in providing immediate medical

treatment to the injured. When this initiative was evaluated at the

national level, it was found that Punjab had implemented this policy

with great success. Since the inception of the Road Safety Force in

Punjab, there has been a significant decline in both the number of

road accidents and the fatalities resulting from them. In medical

terminology, the first hour following a road accident—critical for

an injured person—is referred to as the “Golden Hour.” If medical

aid reaches the injured person within this crucial hour, their life can

often be saved. Given the success of this policy’s implementation

in Punjab, the question arose: why not adopt it across the entire

country? Reports indicated that, across the nation, approximately

50 to 75 percent of accident victims succumb to their injuries due

to a lack of immediate medical attention. Consequently, the National

Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has decided to implement this

Punjab-model scheme across all national highways throughout the

country. From these national highways, 278 highly sensitive locations

have been identified, and work has already commenced on a plan to

ensure that ambulances reach these specific accident sites within ten

minutes. It is projected that if this initiative is successfully executed,

the lives of seriously injured victims could be saved in up to 70

percent of accidents. A comprehensive mapping of sensitive zones

across the country revealed that while the total length of the national

highway network spans 80,000 kilometers, a disproportionately high

risk of accidents is concentrated along a specific 16,000-kilometer

stretch—accounting for just 20 percent of the entire network. These

278 sensitive accident hotspots are distributed across 100 districts

within 18 states of the country; these are the locations where the risk

of accidents is highest. The list of districts covered under this initiative

includes 19 districts in Maharashtra, 18 districts in Uttar Pradesh,

and several districts in both Haryana and Delhi. Even if immediate

notification is received, it takes 20 to 25 minutes for an ambulance

to reach this location. The current provision of the national policy

mandates that ambulance services be dispatched to the accident site

immediately, so that aid can be delivered within the ‘Golden Hour’

to save the lives of as many victims as possible. Undoubtedly, this is

an excellent initiative. Implementing it across the entire country will

certainly ensure the well-being of road travelers and motorists.