By Simi TB
India’s roads tell two very different stories. On one hand we are seeing connected vehicles, ADAS features, collision avoidance systems, and the technologies shaping the future of mobility. On the other hand, there is also a reality which is harder to ignore.
Over 1.7 lakh people continue to lose their lives on India’s roads every year including pedestrians, cyclists, two-wheeler riders simply going about daily life. Vehicle technology is improving, but fatality rate is not falling fast enough. The gap suggests that making vehicles smarter, while important, is only part of the solution. The challenge, therefore, is not just about vehicle technology. It is about the infrastructure those vehicles operate on.
Bridging Gaps
Road safety conversations in India often focus on speeding drivers, drunk driving, poor enforcement, vehicle fitness. These remain critical, but there is a gap that receives far less attention – an increasingly advanced vehicle ecosystem operating on infrastructure that has barely changed in decades.
Even the safest vehicle can only do so much when the road itself lacks the intelligence to anticipate, communicate, and respond to risk. Most safety systems are designed to react after risk emerges. What is often missing is infrastructure that helps prevent those risks from arising. This is where smart infrastructure becomes transformative.
Reactive Response To Proactive Prevention
Smart traffic signals are already deployable at scale. Unlike fixed-timer systems that overlook real-world conditions, adaptive signal systems use live inputs such as traffic density, movement patterns, pedestrian presence, and emergency vehicle detection to respond in real time. Cities like Bengaluru and Pune have tested such systems with the aim of improving traffic flow and reducing waiting times.
Since intersections are among the highest-risk crash points, better signal intelligence can directly improve safety. Beyond signals, roadside sensing expands prevention. Cameras with computer vision, radar-based speed detection, and IoT sensors can continuously monitor conditions. A pothole need not be reported only after an accident occurs. Speeding through a school zone does not go unnoticed. Hazard detection shifts from reactive to proactive, enabling intervention before incidents escalate.
When Infrastructure Starts Communicating
The real shift begins when roads and vehicles communicate. Connected corridors equipped with vehicle-to-infrastructure systems can transmit real-time alerts directly to vehicles, give warning about sharp curves, fog zones, accident sites ahead, or sudden congestion.
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) and its implementing agencies have been exploring Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS)-based highway management initiatives, including digital monitoring and pilot deployments on select corridors. Drivers would no longer need to rely solely on what they can see or on delayed updates. The road itself becomes a source of intelligence.
At scale, this data gives traffic systems predictive capability, helping identifying high-risk stretches, anticipating congestion, and improving emergency response routing. For logistics and fleet operators, this means fewer disruptions, and safer travel. Safety and efficiency begin to reinforce each other.
Putting Vulnerable Users At The Centre
Smart infrastructure cannot be designed around vehicles alone. In India, pedestrians, cyclists, and two-wheeler riders account for a significant share of road fatalities. Systems must actively respond to such vulnerable road users through sensor-enabled pedestrian crossings that adapt to foot traffic, intelligent lighting at high-risk junctions, and monitoring of non-motorised corridors. School zones and dense urban intersections require infrastructure that responds to human presence, not just vehicle movement. If mobility is to be inclusive, it must prioritise those most exposed to risk.
Where Things Stand Today
Foundations are already being laid. MoRTH and its implementing agencies are integrating digital tools into highway management. Network Survey Vehicles equipped with 3D scanning are being used to map road assets and detect defects across the National Highway network.
GPS-enabled equipment tracking and drone-based inspections are further improving transparency and quality control. Emerging technologies such as AI-enabled data collection, connected mobility, and intelligent transport systems are also expanding the possibilities for data-driven road management and safety interventions.
Challenge Ahead
The WHO has consistently noted that road crashes are a leading cause of death for people aged 5–29, and the challenge is not technology availability, but scaling road safety systematically. Smart infrastructure must move from pilot to standard procurement. Systems must be interoperable so data can flow across platforms. Equally important is institutional capacity. Engineers, planners, and enforcement agencies must be trained to interpret and act on real-time data. This must extend to State roads, urban networks, and high-risk rural corridors where most fatal crashes occur.
Scaling these interventions will require more than technology deployment. It will require supportive policy frameworks, institutional capacity, and governance mechanisms that translate data into safer road design and better decision making. This includes implementing scientific speed management, strengthening provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act to better reflect emerging road safety challenges, mandating protection for vulnerable road users, and developing and implementing Road Safety Action Plans at State and district levels to prioritise, monitor, and evaluate safety interventions.
New Definition Of Modern Mobility
India is positioning itself as a global mobility leader. That ambition is reflected in its investments in highways, electric mobility, and vehicle innovation. But modern mobility cannot be defined by vehicles alone; it must also be defined by the ecosystem in which they operate.
A truly modern transport system is one where infrastructure is intelligent—detecting risks, communicating with vehicles, guiding behaviour, and protecting vulnerable road users before crashes occur.
India does not just need smarter vehicles. It needs smarter and safer roads to complement them—because only then can mobility innovation translate into meaningful road safety outcomes.