“Road accidents kill more people than any war,” Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari told Parliament, noting that 485 lives were lost every day on Indian roads, leaving 1,268 people injured or disabled, in 2024. Unlike leaders who stop at rhetoric, Gadkari has operationalized a “5Es” framework, Engineering, Enforcement, Education, Emergency Care, and Empathy ~ to tackle this serious challenge to the country’s social, economic, and legal systems.

On the legal front, the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019, introduced stiff penalties to counter the culture of non-compliance. Cashless Treatment of Road Accident Victims Scheme, 2025 ensures victims receive immediate medical care up to Rs 1.5 lakh. National Road Safety Month (January) saw the ambitious announcement of Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication system that allows vehicles to “talk” to each other within a 300-meter range, alerting drivers to sudden braking or blind-spots. Although India has only 1 per cent of the world’s vehicle population, it accounts for nearly 11 per cent of global road accident deaths ~ about 1.77 lakh fatalities annually, costing the nation nearly 3 per cent of its GDP.The Law Commission states if proper medical treatment is provided during the “Golden Hour” (the first 60 minutes), up to 50 per cent of these deaths can be prevented. However, ambulance response times in India range from 8 to 35 minutes.

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A study from Iran by Mohammad Jafar Sepahvand et al shows that in 85-97 per cent of accidents, ordinary citizens are the first to reach the spot. However, only 11 per cent provide first aid, while 68 per cent merely stand and watch. Some time ago in a remote town in Andhra Pradesh, a mother knelt on a blood-stained road, pleading with passers-by to save her dying son. No one helped. The young man died before her eyes. Incidents like these create despair that society has become increasingly irresponsible.Fortunately, this is not entirely true. The reasons why people at accident sites fail to respond can be grouped into three categories:

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1. Psychological factors;

2. Legal misconceptions;

3. Lack of first-aid knowledge.........

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