India sees first decline in highway deaths since Covid, data shows

Government data shows national highway deaths fell in 2025 for the first time since Covid, with 20 states and UTs recording a decline in fatalities

India has recorded its first decline in highway deaths since the Covid-19 pandemic, offering a rare sign of progress in road safety after years of rising fatalities.

 

According to data shared by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in Parliament last week, fatalities on national highways, including centrally managed expressways, dropped to 62,122 in 2025 from 64,772 in 2024, marking a 4.1 per cent decline. It is the first year-on-year fall in highway deaths since the pandemic.

 

Highways account for only a small share of India's total road network, yet they carry a large proportion of traffic and continue to account for a disproportionately high number of road deaths.

 

Uttar Pradesh sees sharpest fall in highway deaths

 

Twenty states and Union territories recorded a decline in fatalities on national highways in 2025, while 15 reported an increase. Lakshadweep, which has no national highways, remained the only Union Territory to record zero highway fatalities since 2022.

 

Uttar Pradesh recorded the steepest decline in national highway fatalities, with deaths falling from 9,560 in 2024 to 7,573 in 2025. Madhya Pradesh also reported a significant reduction, where fatalities dropped from 4,644 to 3,610, while Punjab recorded a sharp fall from 1,562 to 1,022 during the same period.

 

Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, and Gujarat reported an increase in national highway deaths in 2025 compared with the previous year, underscoring that road safety challenges continue to vary across states despite the overall national decline.

 

Road safety challenge remains far from over

 

Despite the decline in highway deaths, road safety continues to pose a significant challenge. India recorded 513,563 road accidents in 2025, which claimed 183,382 lives. The issue has persisted into the current year, with police departments across states and Union Territories reporting 285,770 road accidents during the first six months of 2026.

 

In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said that over-speeding remained the leading cause of road crashes in 2025, accounting for 82,124 accidents, or nearly 16 per cent of all road accidents reported during the year.

 

He added that driving on the wrong side and lane indiscipline caused 4,089 accidents, while jumping red lights led to 276 crashes and mobile phone use while driving was linked to 136 accidents.