India’s roads are regarded as being among the most dangerous in the world. In 2021, road accidents claimed more than 150,000 lives - an average of 18 per hour, according to government data.

There is rarely any conversation around road safety in the country - but the recent death of Indian billionaire Cyrus Mistry in a car crash has changed that. Many are now calling for a mindset shift among Indians, who are used to traveling in overcrowded vehicles without proper safety measures, so that more people can travel at the same time.

Traffic rules don’t count for much here, but many also say that faulty road engineering plays a key role in many road accidents. What can be done to improve the design of Indian roads? How can vehicles introduce better safety measures and how can road users be made to follow traffic rules? Should the government bring in stricter enforcement of law?

In this edition of WorklifeIndia, we discuss how to make India’s roads safer.

Presenter: Devina Gupta Contributors: Piyush Tewari, founder and CEO, SaveLIFE Foundation; Prof Sewa Ram, head of transport planning, School of Planning & Architecture; Anand Sharma, co-founder and director, Studio34