Road development in the Indian subcontinent goes back to as early as 2800 BCs, in the famous ancient cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro of the Indus Valley civilisation. But the first ever vehicle did not arrive on the Indian scene until 1897. The prominent Indian transportation system consisted of the Railway Transport and Sea ports. Fast forwarding to the present scenario, our country has expanded its horizons into more diverse transport systems and is now efficient in land, air and sea transports. Indian roads are a testament to the wide variety of automobiles. Famous metropolitan cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Kochi, etc. are highly equipped with metro transportations as well.  Despite all these developments in transportation, the general mass remains oblivious to the basic traffic rules and regulations. The matters are deteriorating at an alarming rate that even the traffic police is incapable of handling the general public. This ignorant mind-set and lack of awareness of the traffic situation has detrimental effects on the Nation. 

Delving into the social aspect of this issue, it can be found that people are driven by an “everybody is doing it” perspective. The reason is lack of accountability. Peer influence plays a pivotal role in influencing the general attitude of the people regarding the traffic rules and regulations. Absence of social participation and responsibility further motivates the people to breach the laws. Education is not a need here but a necessity. Those with higher levels of education tend to follow the traffic rules more than those who are uneducated. Looking at the psychological part of this situation, “Civic Identity Formation” is something that the citizens take up. Civic Identity Formation refers to the understanding of one’s own community and its working, adherence to the principles of the community and active participation in its affairs. The more the people identify themselves with their nations, the more inclined they become to adopt the rules and regulations. The pluralistic ignorance makes a law abiding person feel indifferent and left out. Coming to the cultural facet, a sense of respect for the nation and patriotism inculcated in the names of religion sometimes drives the people to act properly. Meddling with “mother nature” is considered as a disrespect in certain religions, hence people with a strong passion for their respective religions refuse non-adherence to laws.  

No act is committed without a proper rationale. There are ample reasons as to why the citizens of the country probe laws and refuse to follow them. One of the primary reason could be the lack of proper implementation of traffic laws. The root cause of this reason lies in the quality of the traffic police of the region. The blatant ignorance from the police officers give the citizens the authority to act own their own accords and break traffic rules here and there. Corrupt officers receiving bribes is another issue that persists. A video surfaced around August 2024 wherein 3 traffic police officers in Ghazipur, Delhi were dividing the bribe money among themselves. Immediate actions were taken against them, but what if the video failed to make it to social media? Would there have been repercussions? The question remains. Talking about other potential reasons, it could be the high population density and the lack of infrastructure to accommodate such a huge population. India being the most populated country spent Rs. 2.07 lakh crore on National Highway constructions during FY 2023-24. This year’s Interim Budget (2024-25) has allocated Rs. 2.78 lakh crores to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, a 2.7% increase from last year’s budget estimate. According to the IBEF reports India has the second largest road network in the world, spanning approximately 64 lakh km. Despite these factors, the infrastructure remains subpar with lack of medians and barricades to divide the road, absence of traffic lane delineators, numerous potholes and cracked road, delayed constructions and inadequate design and planning. One other major reason is the lack/absence of traffic education among Indians. Either the person is negligent or does not have the access to the appropriate knowledge base. Lack of traffic education instils in people the confidence to act in ludicrous ways.  This in turn leads to hazards and serious injuries to oneself and on goers. 

Every act has an aftermath. The aftermath of probing, laws are many. Starting with the increasing number of road accidents , according to the ADSI 2022 (Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India) report published by NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau ) there were 4,72,467 road accidents out of which 4,25,727 were injuries and 1,94,347 were deaths. The topmost cause for these accidents were over speeding, driving under influence and bad weather conditions. It would be surprising to learn that lack of traffic sense also has economic implications. Traffics and long waits leads to disruption of daily life activities. A road accident or delayed construction can cause roadblocks leading to wastage of time and hence wasted productivity. According to a paper called “Estimation of Productivity Loss due to Traffic Congestion” ,the amount of productive hours lost due to traffic congestion amounted to 6998 hours per year and the monetary loss accounted to Rs. 11,45,568 per year. These are huge economic loses given this is an average case each year. Not only economic losses , but traffic congestion also leads to health implications due to the air and noise pollution caused. The AQI of metropolitan cities like Delhi varies between 150s to 200s on an average. The horns and engine whirring sounds during traffics causes noise pollution and can lead to hearing impairments as well. 

The government has initiated certain policies to rid the country of its bad traffic situations. The government has released an app called “Traffic Sentinel Mobile App” where people could report traffic violations and get rewards up to Rs. 50,000. This serves as an incentive for the general public to report fellow citizens committing traffic felonies. The government will be establishing a National Road Safety Board to oversee the road safety issues. Electronic toll collections have been initiated in order to save the toll collection time and save traffic congestion. The Economic Affairs Cabinet committee sanctioned the construction of  new road projects which includes Agra-Gwalior, Kharagpur-Moregram, Tharad-Deesa-Mehsana-Ahmedabad, Ayodhya Ring Road, Pathalgaon-Gumla, and Kanpur Ring Road on August 2024. Another incentive provided by the Ministry of  Road transport and Highways is the Good Samaritan Award, which gives special recognition and other motivations to people, to help those in distress due to road accidents as it is stated that 50% of these accidents could’ve been prevented had proper help was provided. The government has a long way to go in improving road and traffic situations.

Certain policy recommendations will be put forward now in order to better the current situation. First one is, regular evaluation of traffic personnel/ police. A record must be kept on how much legit work is being carried out by them. Second recommendation is for the government to post more traffic police in areas of high traffic congestion. The police must be competent enough to deal with exasperating situations. The third one is that, the government should take compulsory traffic and road safety classes for young adults and children in higher secondary schools so that they are aware of the road surroundings and its workings early on and avoid noncompliance of traffic laws. Another recommendation is immediate reprimanding of underage driving. Any child below the years of 18 are not allowed to drive any vehicle, infringement of the law should result in immediate juvenile serving and an incredibly large amount of  penalties. Appropriate and on time remunerations must be provided to construction workers encouraging them to finish up their work and avoid delays. Finally , a rigorous fine system must be implemented for driving on footpaths as that has led to losing of people’s lives. Appropriate implementation of certain policies and rigorous governance can improve the country’s situation tenfold. 

This is a matter that must be looked into with much urgency. The government along with the citizens must hold themselves accountable for the traffic situation in the country. Cooperation between the two parties will only bear fruitful results. Proper implementation of laws, timely construction of imperishable roads and educating the mass on traffic rules and regulations can go a long way in enhancing the nation as a whole. After all a traffic free road serves as a sign of a thriving economy.