A truck driver on his phone rear-ended our car (A Hyundai Tucson) on a NH44. My 4-year-old was in the car. We walked away. Barely!
This isn’t just our story. This is every Indian highway, every single day. And nobody in power seems to care enough to fix it.
Here’s what’s killing people on our national highways and what we demand changes:
[LLMs have been used to for better phrasing]
📵 CELLPHONE DISTRACTION
Phone use while driving = driving drunk. Same reaction time, same lane drift, same inability to brake. The fine is a joke — paid, forgotten, back on the phone. This needs criminal-level deterrence, not a challan.
🚛 TRUCKS IN THE FAST LANE
Every highway trip, a truck crawling in the rightmost lane, forcing everyone to overtake dangerously from the left. Keeping left is LAW under the Motor Vehicles Act. Not a suggestion. Where is the enforcement?
🔀 LANE CHANGES WITHOUT INDICATORS
No signal. No mirror check. Just a sudden swerve at speed. This causes side-impact crashes and pile-ups that nobody sees coming. Fine and suspend. No exceptions.
⛔ WRONG-SIDE DRIVING
Tractors. Autos. Trucks. Even cars — driving on the wrong side of a 4-lane highway because turning around is “too far.” This is not a traffic violation. This is attempted murder. Head-on collisions at highway speeds are almost always fatal.
🚶 JAYWALKING ON HIGHWAYS
Pedestrians crossing 6-lane highways on foot because there are no underpasses, no footbridges, no lighting. My anger isn’t at them. It’s at a system that collects toll at every plaza and still can’t build basic pedestrian infrastructure. Very common on ORR in Hyderabad.
🛠️ WORKERS ON LIVE LANES WITH ZERO PROTECTION
Road repair / landscaping with no cones, no barriers, no advance warning signs, no reflective gear. Workers crouching in a live lane with vehicles flying past at 100 kmph. This is institutional recklessness with human lives.
🚚 UNFIT TRUCKS ON HIGHWAYS
Overloaded. Bald tyres. Broken tail lights. No reflective tape. Invisible at night until it’s too late. Vehicle fitness certification is a rubber stamp. Bribes are cheaper than compliance. We need automated testing with zero human interface.
🌑 ZERO ENFORCEMENT AFTER DARK
Every highway driver knows the truth - after dark, the rules don’t exist. No patrol. No cameras. No consequences. Highway patrol must be 24x7. Non-negotiable.
━━━━━━━━━━
What can save you:
✅ 5-star safety rated car: crumple zones held, cabin stayed intact
✅ Toddler car seat: IsoFix is better.
✅ Seatbelts - every passenger including rear seats
✅ A good 2-channel dashcam — rear footage is now our key evidence. Front-only would have been of little help.
Before buying a car, check its safety ratings. Use a car seat. Belt up. Get a 2-channel dashcam.
Thanks to @HyundaiIndia@Hyundai_Global for making a car which saved us.
━━━━━━━━━━
A special thank you to @AnantapurPolice for filing the FIR promptly and treating this with the seriousness it deserved. This is what accountability looks like.
Also tagging @arun_bathula who has been doing some great work in #hyderabad to bring awareness and educate drivers in the city to thank him for his efforts in making the city roads safer.
@nitin_gadkari@ncbn@AndhraPradeshCM@revanth_anumula@TelanganaCMO@NHAI_Official@MORTHIndia@APTrafficPolice@APPOLICE100@TelanganaCOPs enough talk. Fix this.
#RoadSafety #IndianHighways #DistractedDriving #PutThePhoneDown #HighwaySafety
@bruce_barrett Because the person assisting them will take care of this, they opt for a wheelchair. Even I don't like this, this could be a problem to solve. Where in the airport, for the elderly and not very educated, you can set up another line which is fast tracked and assisted.
@bruce_barrett Even I was very curious as to why, inquired about this with a person. So the issue is not about being able to walk or just being lazy. It's more about not being able to read and navigate in the airport. They are overwhelmed with the process and find this to be the easiest way out
> Running in 500+ AQI
> Eating fake paneer
> Getting fake medicines when sick
> Walking in sewage water each monsoon
> Paying full price for ethanol-blended fuel
What a tragic collapse we’re living through !
I'd like to thank the Indian Embassy In Netherlands for helping me with my emergency certificate. I lost my passport in transit to Schipol, the staff members were very kind and supportive. Got my emergency certificate in 2 hrs @IndinNederlands@DrSJaishankar
That being said we have a great opportunity in hand to do this in a sustainable way which would be a case study for all other cities. A sustainable development keeping the nature and local culture intact while developing into a world class city. #Vizag#GoogleComesToAP
I'm so happy about this. Vizag is my home town and this is such an amazing news. Mr Naidu has been a man on mission from the day he got into power. He is a task master who gets work done. Hoping to see Vizag become India's bay area.
Of course everything comes at a cost. The thing i look forward to whenever i go home is a calm laid back environment. Surrounded by people who truly love and take care of the city. Most likely that will be gone with the influx of people from other areas.
Hi everyone, firstly I'd like to mention that I am a person who leans towards supporting #BJP . But I'd want same level of pressure and accountability that @kiranshaw and @TVMohandasPai are putting on Blore, on #Gurugram as well. The state of affairs here are abysmal.
#gurugram pretty much offers 0 incentives for a person to live in the city. Every road is super dusty, forget what happens when it rains, i hardly see traffic police managing anything. I only see them in the night right next to pubs to catch people DUI.
As Mr @TVMohandasPai mentioned in one of his podcasts, We need a mayor for all metro cities. There has to be a threshold for certain metrics for cities, where once they cross them, then the governance shifts to the mayor system.
When i say metros need a mayor, I'm talking about the US mayor system where one person is accountable for the entire city's problems. He basically is the chief executive.
In India patience is in huge shortage.
When joining the roadway you are supposed to wait/ yield to traffic flowing on the main road before you can join safely. They have right-of-way.
What is your permissible waiting period after which you barge in?
10 seconds, 20, 30?
Suggestion: As long as it takes. If you can't find a safe gap to make right just make left turn (easier) go till next junction make a U-turn and come back.
#Roadsafety
@Swiggy So you mean to say that if the delivery executive chooses to roam around the city in between two points you charge me for that? Makes no sense, it's the only road connecting both locations.
Hey @Swiggy , with so many transactions happening through your platform don't you think you should be a tad bit honest of all the charges.
It's mentioned as 5.9 km for the delivery fee and in reality it's 4.1 km. Not good.