Following road accidents, measures are routinely put in place on the affected stretches to prevent a repeat of the mishaps. But is there a mechanism to check if the rectifying steps have actually made the roads in question safer?A Parliamentary Standing Committee has raised concerns over the effectiveness of India’s efforts to rectify “black spots” or accident-prone sites on highways, pointing out that there is no data to verify whether previously treated black spots remain accident-free or not. The committee further said that without specific and quantifiable reduction targets for accidents and fatalities, the efficacy of the road safety programme cannot be objectively assessed.In its report on the Demands for Grants (2026–27) of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), presented in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, the committee highlighted that 16,500 accident-prone black spots have been identified across the country based on 2016-2023 data. Out of these, short-term rectification — such as traffic calming, improved signages, and lighting — have been implemented at 14,138 black spots locations. Long-term measures like design improvements, flyovers, and underpasses have been introduced for 6,650 black spots.The committee flagged concerns about the absence of systematic evaluation of treated black spots and said that the target of removing 1,000 black spots in 2026-27 does not include a post-rectification verification mechanism.Black spots on national highways are critical stretches with a high rate of accidents. A 500-meter stretch is counted as a black spot if it has seen five or more accidents, involving fatalities or grievous injuries, or 10 fatalities within a three-year period.The Electronic Detail Accident Record System (eDAR) provides near real-time accident data for black-spot identification.“The Committee recommends a structured Post-Rectification Safety Audit for treated black spots, and that locations where accident rates have not reduced to an acceptable threshold be reclassified for higher-order engineering solutions such as grade separation or geometric realignment,” the report said.Story continues below this adIn terms of number of annual road accident fatalities, India tops globally, followed by China, which accounts for just 36% of India’s total road deaths, and the US at 25%.India has the second-largest road network in the world — about 63.45 lakh km, which includes 1.46 lakh km of NHs and 1.80 lakh km of state highways.India reported 4.87 lakh road accidents and 1.77 lakh fatalities in 2024 — an increase of 1.87% and 2.48%, respectively, in fatalities compared to 2023.Over 36% of these deaths occurred on National Highways (NHs), though it forms only 2.3% of the total road network.The Stockholm Declaration on Road Safety, adopted at the 3rd Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in February 2020, and which India is a signatory to, set a global target to reduce road deaths and injuries by 50% by 2030.Story continues below this adThe Parliamentary committee recommended that the Ministry adopt specific, measurable annual reduction targets for road accidents and fatalities within the Outcome Budget framework, so that outcome-linked accountability is established and the effectiveness of road safety expenditure can be assessed against pre-declared benchmarks.Apart from this, the committee also raised concerns regarding the availability of ambulances and response time for accident victims on highways; safety concerns regarding sleeper buses due to limited reaction time in accidents; and encroachment on National Highways.It noted that as part of Road Safety measures, Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) have been mandated from October 2027 for new vehicle models, and January 2028 for existing models to strengthen vehicle-level safety. ADAS features include Driver Drowsiness Alert, Lane Departure Warning, Emergency Braking System and Electronic Stability Control. Bus body certification has been made mandatory, and e-rickshaw standards have been mandated in two phases.