The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and National Road Safety Board (NRSB) held an institutional meeting at NHAI Headquarters in New Delhi on August 21, 2026, to undertake a comprehensive review of road safety systems on the National Highway network. The meeting was attended by Dr. Nitin R. Gokarn, Chairman of National Road Safety Board, and NHAI Chairman Shri Santosh Kumar Yadav, along with other NRSB members, officials from Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, NHAI, State Administrations, and road safety experts.
The meeting aimed to establish a structured institutional framework for sustained collaboration between NHAI and NRSB with the objective of strengthening road safety governance, enhancing National Highway safety standards, and accelerating efforts towards reducing accidents on National Highways. NHAI presented a comprehensive view of the current status of road safety management, covering road safety performance and emerging trends, institutional arrangements and governance, highway safety engineering and operations, road safety audits and black spot management, speed management, Intelligent Transport Systems, and technology-enabled interventions.
The presentation also covered emergency response and post-crash care, monitoring and performance management systems, citizen engagement and user-centric services, commercial vehicle safety and driver welfare, along with identification of key challenges and future priorities for strengthening road safety across the National Highway network. The discussions assessed existing institutional arrangements, engineering practices and operational systems while identifying opportunities to further strengthen road safety through adoption of a Safe System approach encompassing six key strategic areas: Risk Identification, Safe Highway Engineering and Prevention; Safe Highway Operations, Commercial Vehicle Safety and Intelligent Transport Systems; Emergency Response, Incident Management and Citizen-Centric Safety; Digital Safety Management, Monitoring and Decision Support Systems; Performance Monitoring, Governance and Institutional Accountability; and Strategic Roadmap for National Highway Road Safety.
Dr. Nitin R. Gokarn appreciated NHAI's adoption of advanced technology tools including deployment of Advanced Traffic Management Systems (ATMS), predictive Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions, and digital mapping of ambulances to strengthen incident response and emergency services. He emphasized the need for identifying top 10 accident-prone locations across the country and strengthening first-response capabilities at toll plazas by providing first-aid training to toll plaza personnel. It was also emphasized that NHAI field offices should work closely with state administrations and keep them informed about road safety initiatives for better coordination. The two institutions will continue structured engagement through periodic review meetings to identify emerging challenges and strengthen road safety interventions.