"Road safety is one of the most critical conversations India needs to have today. As the country rapidly builds tech-driven infrastructure and modern mobility systems, safety has to remain at the centre of this transformation. The urgency is clear. In 2024 alone, India lost nearly 450 lives every single day due to road crashes. Behind these numbers are families shattered, livelihoods impacted, and communities carrying the burden of preventable tragedies. While infrastructure is improving, road safety cannot depend only on better roads. It needs smarter systems that can predict, prevent, and reduce risk in real time. This is where telematics plays a critical role. Telematics allows us to understand driving behaviour, monitor speed, detect harsh braking, sudden acceleration, and identify risky patterns before they turn into accidents. It transforms road safety from being reactive to preventive. The power of telematics lies in its ability to create awareness and accountability. When drivers receive real-time feedback, and stakeholders can analyse behaviour through data, safer habits begin to form. India’s road safety challenge is large, but technology gives us an opportunity to address it at scale. As we continue to strengthen infrastructure, integrating telematics into the ecosystem can become one of the most effective tools in saving lives and building a safer mobility future." - Pawan Pandey, CTO, @savelifeindia #ETEdge #RoadSafety #SmartMobility #RoadSafetySummit2026 #IndiaRoadSafety #SafeRoads

"The Zero Fatality District Programme is an important step in rethinking how India approaches road safety. The larger idea is simple but powerful: road safety cannot remain a short-term project; it must become a government-backed programme with unified ownership, sustained funding, and long-term accountability. Today, when a crash happens, the response often gets divided across multiple departments, different teams, and separate budgets. This fragmented approach slows action and weakens outcomes. What we are trying to do is bring road safety under one unified governance framework, where accountability is clear, and interventions are coordinated. The encouraging part is that crash data collection in India has improved significantly over the past decade. With over 4.6 lakh accidents reported annually, the availability of better data gives us a stronger foundation than ever before. But the real question is not just collecting data; it is how we use it. How do we unlock existing systems, identify patterns, and turn insights into preventive action? This is where training and capacity building become critical. Road safety is not just about roads or vehicles; it is about the entire machinery behind it. Police, transport officials, engineers, emergency responders, and local administrations all need to be trained to understand and act on road safety data effectively. The good news is that the ecosystem is evolving. New mechanisms, better technology, and stronger governance models are beginning to show results. Data has improved, systems are improving, and the intent is there. The opportunity now is to connect these pieces together and build a road safety framework that does not just respond to accidents but works to prevent them altogether." - @piyushtewarii, Founder/CEO, @savelifeindia #ETEdge #RoadSafety #SmartMobility #RoadSafetySummit2026 #IndiaRoadSafety #SafeRoads