Parliament passes bill setting national highway safety standards

Parliament this week passed a significant bill on national highway safety, making uniform engineering standards, periodic safety audits and the identification of accident-prone stretches mandatory across the country's national highway network. Supporters of the bill have called it the most comprehensive road-safety legislation in over a decade.

Under the new law, state highway departments will be required to carry out a safety audit of every national highway stretch at least once every two years and publish the list of accident-prone sections publicly. The legislation also sets minimum standards for pedestrian crossings, reflective signage and emergency lanes on new highway construction.

The implications are particularly significant for Assam, where several national highways run through hilly terrain and along riverbanks that see frequent accidents and landslides during the monsoon. "We have already flagged a number of vulnerable stretches and will be applying for central assistance," a senior state government official said.

Transport experts have broadly welcomed the bill while stressing that funding for implementation will matter as much as the law itself. "Having the legislation is not enough — district-level engineering and maintenance capacity has to grow alongside it," said a transport planner familiar with highway projects in the Northeast.

The bill now awaits presidential assent, and implementation is expected to begin from the next annual budget cycle. State governments have been given six months to align their highway construction policies with the new standards.