Experts call for road design and speed controls suited to Indian cities
A national seminar urged cities to align road design, posted limits and actual traffic speeds, with safer crossings, accessible footpaths and stronger enforcement to protect vulnerable road users.
Mahmood Ahmed, Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, said higher speeds do not necessarily reduce travel time but can increase the risk and severity of fatal crashes.
NEW DELHI: Speed management in Indian cities must combine safer road design, effective enforcement and limits suited to local conditions, experts said at a national seminar, warning that signage and awareness alone cannot adequately protect road users.
The seminar, “Rethinking Urban Speed: Speed Management for Safer, More Livable and Inclusive Cities”, was held at the Constitution Club of India on Tuesday. The Road Safety Network organised it with IIT Delhi’s Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Centre and IIT Kharagpur.
Participants called for consistency between the speed a road is designed for, its posted limit and the speeds at which vehicles actually travel. These decisions should account for surrounding land use, the road’s function and the presence of pedestrians, cyclists and two-wheeler users.
Mahmood Ahmed, Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, said higher speeds do not necessarily reduce travel time but can increase the risk and severity of fatal crashes. Multiple authorities make implementation more complex in urban areas, he said, stressing the need for locally relevant measures, electronic enforcement and greater certainty of punishment.
National Road Safety Board Chairman Nitin R. Gokarn called for better data on two-wheeler crashes and stronger attention to pedestrian infrastructure. Road safety assessments must consider the entire road environment rather than vehicles in isolation, he said.
The discussions highlighted accessible footpaths, safe crossings, traffic-calming measures and safer school zones. Experts also raised concerns about mixed traffic and large differences in vehicle speeds, which can expose two-wheeler users to greater risk.
Bhargab Maitra of IIT Kharagpur, a member of the Road Safety Network, said speed management offered an opportunity for near-term improvements through a combination of engineering, enforcement and regulation suited to each road.
Participants advocated the Safe System approach, which recognises that people make mistakes and seeks to prevent those mistakes from causing death or serious injury. They also called for better crash and speed data and closer integration of road safety with urban planning and public transport.
