India knows how many people die on its roads. It knows much less about those who survive. The National Road Safety Board, constituted on June 29 under Section 215B of the Motor Vehicles Act, can begin to close that gap. It should add post-crash outcomes to the country’s road-safety record.
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways recorded 487,707 road crashes in 2024, with 177,175 deaths and 471,441 injuries. Its annual report identifies the roads, vehicles and road users involved. The record, however, ends with the death or injury reported by the police. It does not show whether an injured person remains disabled, returns to work, receives rehabilitation or falls into debt.
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Road crash survivors disappear from official data
The World Health Organisation estimates that 20 million to 50 million people suffer non-fatal road injuries each year, many of them with disabilities. India’s annual road accident data does not publish national indicators on permanent disability, rehabilitation, return to work or the financial condition of affected households.
That omission narrows the policy response. Road design, traffic enforcement, vehicle standards and emergency care are measured through government programmes and administrative data. Post-crash rehabilitation, disability support and livelihood recovery receive no comparable national assessment.
An injury total says little about the severity or duration of the damage. A person discharged from hospital may need months of treatment. Some never return to their previous occupation. Medical bills and lost wages may continue long after the crash disappears from official records.
India therefore cannot tell whether its post-crash system restores mobility and income. Nor can it compare outcomes across states, hospitals or groups of road users.
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Road crash injuries impoverish households
The costs extend beyond hospitals and damaged vehicles. A World Bank study cited an estimate equal to 3.14 per cent of India’s GDP. Its survey also found that road crashes impose a heavier burden on low-income households, which have fewer savings and weaker access to insurance and social protection.
A serious injury can stop a daily-wage worker from earning for months. Families may borrow, sell land or jewellery, and postpone other expenses. Children may miss school when income falls or when they have to care for an injured parent.
Women carry much of this burden. The World Bank study found that care work after a crash falls disproportionately on women. Some take additional jobs after the loss of a household earner; others reduce paid work to care for the injured. These costs do not appear in MoRTH’s accident tables.
The absence of data has a budgetary consequence. Governments cannot plan rehabilitation services, disability assistance or income support without knowing the number of people who need them and the length of that need.
National Road Safety Board can set new measures
The National Road Safety Board has an advisory mandate on road safety and traffic management. It can recommend a common system for tracking what happens after an injured person leaves hospital.
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MoRTH, the Health Ministry, the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, the Labour Ministry and state governments should agree on a limited set of indicators. These should cover permanent disability, access to rehabilitation, return to work, loss of household income, unpaid care and interruption of education.
Police crash records will have to be linked with hospital, rehabilitation, disability certification and compensation data. The purpose is not to build another administrative database. It is to establish whether the existing systems restore health and livelihoods.
MoRTH’s annual report should publish these indicators alongside deaths and injuries. State-level figures would show where emergency treatment saves lives but rehabilitation fails, or where compensation and disability support do not reach affected families.
Road safety in India needs recovery data
Reducing fatalities remains the primary objective. But an injury count cannot show whether emergency care and rehabilitation restored a person’s health or capacity to work.
The National Road Safety Board can change that by making recovery a measurable part of road safety. Its contribution will be visible when India can report how many survivors regained mobility, returned to work and avoided catastrophic medical expenditure.
Until then, the country will continue to count the crash while missing much of its aftermath.
Amrat Singh is Director, CUTS International, and member, Road Safety Network, India.