Just five roads account for 28% of fatal crashes

New Delhi: In a city crisscrossed by nearly 1,400km of roads, danger is strikingly concentrated. Just five roads account for nearly 28% of Delhi’s fatal crashes, turning a handful of high-speed corridors into lethal stretches, reveals data shared by a senior traffic official.

The year 2025 saw 1,578 fatal accidents, reinforcing what traffic police and road safety experts have long suspected — road deaths in Delhi are clustered and tied to specific high-speed arteries carrying the city’s daily economic and commuter load.

At the centre of this pattern are Ring Road and Outer Ring Road — Delhi’s transport lifelines that double up as its deadliest corridors. Together stretching close to 90km, these looping arterial roads move millions of vehicles daily, linking residential colonies, business districts, industrial hubs and highways. But their scale and design — wide carriageways, long uninterrupted stretches and multiple flyovers — also create ideal conditions for speeding.

In 2025, Ring Road recorded 130 fatal crashes while Outer Ring Road saw 113, placing them at the top of Delhi’s fatality chart.

Road safety experts say the reasons lie in a mix of engineering gaps and risky driving behaviour. According to CRRI’s chief scientist, S Velmurugan, wide six- and eight-lane stretches often encourage speeding, especially during lean traffic hours. Problems intensify near flyovers and interchanges, where poor merge design, missing crash cushions, weak hazard markings and inadequate signage increase risk and severity.

After the two arterial giants, the danger trail continues along major entry and exit corridors. GT Karnal Road recorded 95 fatal crashes, followed by Rohtak Road with 64 and Mathura Road with 31. These roads serve as both highways and urban roads, carrying heavy trucks alongside local traffic, two-wheelers and pedestrians — often without adequate safety separation.

The sharpest warning sign lies in pedestrian deaths, which remain heavily concentrated along high-speed corridors. In 2025, there were 50 crashes on Ring Road in which pedestrians were killed, followed by Outer Ring Road (38), GT Karnal Road (37), Rohtak Road (25) and Vikas Marg (13).

Experts say this reflects a deeper urban design mismatch. Many of these roads were built for fast, uninterrupted vehicle movement but are now lined with markets, bus stops, residential clusters and urban villages. With safe crossings spaced far apart and foot overbridges often underused, pedestrians frequently end up crossing multi-lane traffic at grade.

Vulnerable road users like pedestrians are denied safe crossings and pushed into life-threatening crashes on most stretches of Ring Road and Outer Ring Road, said Velmurugan. “Such crashes invariably occur at major attraction points like metro stations and major bus stops due to one or several factors. Further, other vulnerable vehicles like two-wheelers often try to slip past verges and end up at high risk of collision with cars and trucks. Together, behaviour and design form a lethal mix that keeps Delhi’s two busiest corridors among its most dangerous.”

The data offers both a warning and an opportunity. If nearly a third of deaths are happening on just five roads, targeted redesign — better speed control, safer merge zones, pedestrian crossings, lighting and enforcement — could significantly cut fatalities.

Traffic officials said road safety awareness programmes have become more frequent, targeting drivers across categories — from two-wheeler riders to DTC bus staff — and are being held almost daily to discourage reckless driving habits. Officials said a letter recommending the introduction of a road safety curriculum in schools has been sent to the education department so driving ethics can be instilled from an early age. “High-risk corridors have been shortlisted to be worked upon,” said an official.

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Just 5 city roads account for 28% of fatal crashes
Just five roads account for nearly 28% of Delhi’s fatal crashes, turning a handful of high-speed corridors into lethal stretches, reveals data shared by a senior traffic official, reports Ishita Jairath. 2025 saw 1,578 fatal accidents, reinforcing what traffic police and road safety experts have long suspected — road deaths in Delhi are clustered and tied to specific high-speed arteries carrying the city’s daily economic and commuter load. At the centre of this pattern are Ring Road and Outer Ring Road — Delhi’s lifelines that double up as deadliest corridors.