On Tuesday (October 7, 2025), the Supreme Court directed all countries and trade unions to create comprehensive road safety rules within six months, including aspects such as pedestrian protection, adherence to helmet, improper driving, dangerous overtaking, using dazzling LED headlights and unauthorized installations or sales of red ground light and Hooters.
And the bench of justices jb parddiwala and kv viswanathan Orderred That These Rules be Framed Under Sections 138 (1a) and 210-D of the Motor Vehicles (MV) Act Propelled Vehicles on Public Roads and National Highways, Section 210-D Mandates The Prescription of Standards for the Design, Construction, and Maintenance of the Roads than the National Highway.
It emphasizes that there was a “terrible need” to ensure that the sidewalks were safe to avoid “loss of life and limb”, and point out government data that show that more than 35,000 pedestrians were killed in 2023, while more than 54,000 riders and passengers lost their lives.
The instructions were issued on a petition in a public interest filed by a surgeon based on Coimbatore S. Rajasecaran, who pointed out the alarming level of death on the road and what he described as a “total heartless and occasional attitude” of state authorities to road security.
“Pedestrian safety is naturally associated with wider political objectives, including accident prevention, inclusive mobility, walking and environmental goals. Systematic lane failure threatens the predictability of vehicles, undermines safe pedestrian crossings and increases high -risk interactions.”
The court also ordered all authorities concerned to strictly enforce the laws of helmets for both riders and a billion passengers. “Strict recovery of these rules should be ensured, inter alia, through electronic recovery mechanisms, ie cameras installed in various places,” she said, ordering that the details of penalized infammers gathered and suspended licenses would be furnished by the court.
“Personally Responsible”
In particular, the Court stated that officials and suppliers would personally be responsible under Section 198a of the MV Act in cases where pedestrians lose their lives due to infrastructure failure or proposal. “Authorities strengthen earlier court instructions on helmet recovery, pedestrian audits, legislative gaps and complaints, which ensures continuity, compliance and responsibility,” the court said.
The bench that expresses concern about the “extensive use” of dazzling white headlights and vibrations that imitate emergency sirens, ordered the Ministry of Road Transport and Motorways (Morth), State Traffic Authorities of Transport Police to prescribe maximum permissible luminaires Vehicle certification and vehicle certification. It also ordered targeted units to penalize vehicles equipped with unbalanced headlights and ordered a total ban on unauthorized red-blue lights and hooters through seizures, market interventions and fines.
The bench also instructs the authorities to explore the infrastructure for pedestrians on bus terminals, metro stations and railway stations to ensure standards of compliance with Indian road congresses (IRC), a technical body operating under Morth. He proposed interventions such as shaded waiting rooms, tactile tiles and redesign conflicts.
In addition, the Court of Justice ordered state governments, municipal authorities and India the National Highway (NHAI) to create a simple and effective remedy mechanism for online complaints about maintenance or intervention of sidewalks and proposals for pedestrian crossings. “The complaint compensation system must integrate the mechanism of review by higher authorities to be caused in cases where the complainant is not satisfied with the solution provided,” he said.
The Court explained that the enemy petition did not comply with and continues to follow compliance with its instructions. “The register again give this matter for seven months to report to compliance with our instructions and further progress on this matter,” he said.
Published – October 7, 2025 20:26
