With hand-holding support from IIT Kharagpur, West Bengal has recently framed and implemented a scientific speed management guideline. With this, West Bengal has become the first State in the country to have done so. This aligns with WHO’s Safe Systems approach and UN’s Decade of Action for Road Safety (2021–2030). Kolkata Police launched “Mind the Gap” campaign, promoting safe following distance with the three-second rule. This responds to tailgating accidents and rising road rage. The initiative has had very positive impact on the overall road safety situation in the Kolkata municipal areas.
West Bengal has been taking special initiatives towards rectification of identified blackspots and updating the list further based on recent road accidents as per the relevant protocol framed by different road-owning authorities. All the road-owning departments and agencies have been sensitized towards timely completion of road safety and bridge audits. Necessary intervention, as stemming from accident-site surveys and audits, are taken in time to pre-empt further accidents at those locations. Crash barriers are being installed in hilly districts and along water bodies, reducing fall-related fatalities. The same is also being done at all other such identified locations.
Sustained traffic calming measures have been taken across the state and on all identified state and national highways to induce better compliance of road discipline, thereby reducing the number of road crashes. Under Setu Bharatam, 22 ROBs/RUBs in West Bengal have been constructed with an aim to eliminate risky railway crossings. This complements and supplements hundreds of already existing ROBs/RUBs in the state. This has had positive implications for the road safety outcomes for the state. SDSL’s visibility across urban and rural Bengal has been the key.
Awareness camps, pledges, stickers, and rallies have supplemented similar efforts by different agencies to enhance public awareness on road safety. Initiatives have been taken to sensitize students, embedding and inculcating road safety discipline and learning. Exposure visits for school students are also organised for better awareness and sensitization. Events like the World Day of Remembrance for Road Victims saw police, NGOs, and communities coming together. Darjeeling alone hosted 900+ awareness events under SDSL in recent years. Police have adopted rehabilitative strategies: counselling reckless youth bikers, turning some into safety ambassadors and other such innovative measures to enhance public awareness on road safety.
In 2024, 20 per cent of all road accident deaths in India were pedestrians ~ a sharp reminder that infrastructure must prioritise non-motorised users. Refuge islands, boom barriers, and pedestrian signals have been introduced. West Bengal has been taking all the necessary initiatives for reducing pedestrian fatalities in the State, with encouraging outcomes. The state’s flagship Sabuj Sathi scheme, by distributing over 1.5 crore bicycles, has helped the cause of road safety awareness apart from contributing to cleaner air. Advocacy groups urge dedicated cycling lanes and lifting bans, as studies show bicycles outperform vehicles in congested corridors. Two-wheelers form the bulk of fatalities across India. Helmet compliance remains a rural challenge, especially among pillion riders. West Bengal has been laying special stress on use of helmets by the riders. Road safety is not just about prevention, but also post-crash care. Plans are underway to integrate ambulance networks with VLTD data for faster dispatch.
A centralized control room for coordinating and connecting trauma care ambulances with the emergency requests is supposed to do the needful. The establishment of a network of trauma care centres across the state including along important highways has strengthened the road safety architecture in the state. Trauma care centres are being prioritised on highways. Awareness of the “golden hour” principle is being spread through schools, community clubs, and mock drills. Pathbandhu, a good Samaritan volunteers’ team helps by acting as first responders during the golden hour immediately following an accident for timely extension of health care to the victims of road accidents. India reported 4.8 lakh accidents and 1.5 lakh fatalities in 2016, rising to 4.7 lakh accidents and 1.7 lakh fatalities in 2024. West Bengal, by contrast, recorded 17,704 accidents and 7,118 fatalities in 2016, which declined to 13,400 accidents and stabilized at around 6,100 fatalities in 2024.
West Bengal’s fatalities remained flat despite rapid motorization, contrasting with India’s rising national fatalities. This stability reflects the success of targeted interventions. To consolidate progress and move towards Vision Zero fatalities, West Bengal must replicate Kolkata’s enforcement model in rural districts with enhanced police capacity and digital monitoring.
Necessary steps include universalizing technological oversight, ensuring 100 per cent VLTD adoption, fast-tracking suspension and cancellation of driving licenses for traffic violations, prioritizing vulnerable users, building pedestrian refuge islands, cycle tracks, and traffic-calmed school zones, further strengthening post-crash care, establishing more trauma care centres along highways, integrated with VLTD-enabled ambulance dispatch, and reinforcing accountability at all levels.
Besides this, integrating road safety into school curricula and expanding Road Safety Clubs to build long-term cultural change, engaging NGOs, civil society, and CSR funds in awareness and infrastructure interventions, GIS-based accident mapping, AI-enabled dashboards, ensuring 100 per cent VLTD coverage, expanding smart enforcement (speed cameras, e-challans) and building safe infrastructures including pedestrian zones, cycle tracks, crash barriers, are other imperatives. West Bengal’s journey in road safety illustrates that visionary leadership and consistent enforcement can yield measurable outcomes.
The ‘Safe Drive, Save Life’ campaign has moved beyond slogans to institutionalized governance. Compared to India’s rising fatalities, West Bengal has stabilized its numbers, and Kolkata stands as a model of success, halving fatalities within a decade. West Bengal’s journey since 2016 shows how a well-coordinated campaign can evolve into institutionalised governance and measurable outcomes. The ‘Safe Drive, Save Life’ initiative, coupled with SRSC reforms, technology adoption, and community engagement, has made road safety a mainstream governance issue.
The challenge now is extending these successes to rural districts, where weak enforcement, poor infrastructure, and rising motorization continue to fuel accidents. If West Bengal succeeds, it will also emerge as a national exemplar in saving lives on the road. Kolkata has already demonstrated that fatalities can be halved in a few years with consistent enforcement and infrastructure improvements. The task now is to replicate this success across rural districts, where most fatalities persist.
If West Bengal sustains momentum, aligns with the UN’s Decade of Action for Road Safety (2021–2030), and delivers on its future roadmap, it could emerge as a national model in saving lives and building safer mobility. Ultimately, road safety is more than statistics ~ it is about protecting citizens, enabling livelihoods, and affirming the right to life in everyday mobility. The state’s slogan captures this ethos perfectly
(The writer is an IAS officer of the 2002 batch and Secretary, Transport Department, Government of West Bengal. The views expressed here are personal and do not reflect those of the Government)