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.