The tragic deaths of two young Jammu and Kashmir Police Sub-Inspectors, Sachin Verma and Shubham, in a high-speed crash on Srinagar’s Tengen Bypass on August 10–11, 2025, followed by another accident in the city later today day, lay bare a chilling truth: road accidents in J&K are a deadlier scourge than disease or terrorism. With 57 fatalities in Srinagar alone this year and 4,990 accidents claiming 703 lives across J&K by October 2024, the region’s roads are killing one person every two hours. The government’s inertia, cloaked in bureaucratic slumber, is complicit in this carnage, failing to enforce traffic laws or address systemic failures that turn highways into death traps.
Historically, J&K’s road accident crisis has worsened unabated. From 2013 to 2022, 9,070 lives were lost, with 3,290 in the 25–60 age group, robbing the region of its workforce. In 2022, 6,092 accidents resulted in 805 deaths, rising to 6,298 accidents and 893 fatalities in 2023—a 10% spike in crashes and 11% in deaths. Overspeeding, responsible for 5,990 accidents in 2022, remains the primary killer, yet the government’s response is woefully inadequate.
The Jammu and Kashmir Road Safety Policy 2025, touted as a solution to halve accidents by 2030, feels like a hollow promise when speed cameras, license checks, and road safety audits remain underutilized. The eDAR system, meant to track accidents in real-time, is barely implemented, and 1.2 million traffic violations in 2024—899,110 court challans in Srinagar and Jammu alone—reveal enforcement as a farce. Unlicensed driving, up from 110 accidents in 2021 to 126 in 2022, goes unchecked, while helmet and seatbelt violations claim 194 lives annually.
The government’s focus on grandiose projects overshadows basic safety. Narrow roads, poor signage, and absent crash barriers plague J&K’s terrain, yet funds are misdirected. When will the Motor Vehicles Department and Traffic Police wake up? Stricter license enforcement, rigorous audits, and public awareness campaigns are overdue. The blood on J&K’s roads demands accountability, not excuses.
