The Cart Before the Horse, Why India’s Roads Need Upgrades Before Tech Solutions Can Reduce Accidents
India is, in many respects, a country in transition and thus suffers varieties of a common chicken-and-egg problem: it adopts solutions that are only feasible at scale but struggles to operationalise that scale. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is set to introduce vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication technology that will allow vehicles on the road to send and receive data about their location and movement vectors, in a bid to improve road safety. This seems credible at a time when road accidents are increasing in India. A spate of accidents in April in Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh killed more than 50 people. The Supreme Court of India took suo motu cognisance of two similar incidents in 2025 and, on April 26, asserted that the state must proactively enforce the constitutional right to life and remove any obstructions in highways’ right of way. However, V2V is unlikely to help as its hardware demand is non-trivial relative to what exists, yet is crucial. More fundamentally, the country lacks proper road design, routing, and speed control while road use is dominated by two-wheelers, pedestrians, and non-motorised traffic. If a city is not ‘smart’, a ‘Smart City’ solution such as V2V will be marginal at best. The Ministry must slowly roll out both infrastructure and training, with phased mandates and subsidies, first.
The Road Safety Crisis: A National Emergency
India’s road safety record is abysmal. According to government data, over 1.5 lakh people die in road accidents every year. That is more than 400 deaths every day. The economic cost is estimated at 3-5 per cent of GDP. The human cost is incalculable. Families are destroyed. Livelihoods are lost. The recent spate of accidents in April—in Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh—killed more than 50 people in a matter of days. These are not isolated incidents; they are symptoms of a systemic failure.
The Supreme Court has taken notice. On April 26, the Court took suo motu cognisance of two similar incidents in 2025 and asserted that the state must proactively enforce the constitutional right to life and remove any obstructions in highways’ right of way. The Court’s intervention is welcome, but it is not a solution. The solution requires policy, investment, and enforcement. It requires fixing the roads, not just clearing them of obstructions.
V2V Technology: What It Is and How It Works
V2V is part of the wider V2X, or vehicle-to-everything, technological scheme in which vehicles communicate with other infrastructure (V2I), such as traffic lights and tolling, and pedestrians (V2P), aside from V2V. The idea is that vehicles broadcast their location, speed, direction, and other data to nearby vehicles. If a car ahead brakes suddenly, it sends a signal to the car behind, which can then brake automatically or alert the driver. If a vehicle is about to enter an intersection, it communicates with other vehicles to avoid a collision.
The technology has been tested in developed countries with promising results. The US Department of Transportation has estimated that V2V could reduce unimpaired vehicle crashes by 80 per cent. The European Union is rolling out V2X standards. Japan has deployed V2X on a large scale. The technology is not science fiction; it is proven.
But the proven results come from countries with good roads, trained drivers, and a high proportion of V2X-equipped vehicles. India has none of these.
The Hardware Problem: Cost and Compliance
V2V’s hardware demand is non-trivial relative to what exists, yet is crucial. Each vehicle must be equipped with a device that can transmit and receive data. The device must be integrated with the vehicle’s braking and steering systems. It must be secure against hacking. It must be reliable in all weather conditions.
Vehicle owners already face steep compliance costs, including having to pay for vehicle location tracking devices and high-security registration plates, sans subsidies or a competitive vendor market to defray the higher cost of approved devices. Adding V2V hardware will increase the cost of vehicles significantly. The Ministry has yet to specify the key, akin to the ‘language’ vehicles broadcast in, Indian V2V will use – DSRC or C-V2X – and has unsurprisingly spurred public concern.
Early adopters will bear the full cost while enjoying underwhelming benefits. A V2V device is only useful if other vehicles also have V2V devices. If you are the only V2V-equipped vehicle on a road full of non-equipped vehicles, you gain little. The network effect is essential. But the network effect requires scale. And scale requires mandates. And mandates require political will. The Ministry has not yet demonstrated that will.
The Training Problem: Drivers Not Ready for the Interface
In the V2V network, each vehicle is a node where data are processed and interpreted for the driver. The driver must understand what the vehicle is telling them. They must distinguish between a false alarm and a genuine threat. They must respond appropriately—brake, steer, or accelerate.
Many commercial drivers are not used to driving environments with interfaces and are under-trained to interpret vehicle alerts. A truck driver who has spent decades driving without any electronic assistance will not adapt overnight. A bus driver who cannot read English or Hindi will not understand a warning message displayed on a screen. A three-wheeler driver who is illiterate will not benefit from a text-based alert.
The Ministry must roll out training programmes alongside the technology. Drivers must be educated about what V2V does, how to respond to alerts, and what to do if the system fails. This is a massive undertaking. It cannot be done by circular. It requires on-the-ground training, simulators, and testing. The Ministry has not announced any such programme.
The Security Problem: Hacking and Congestion
V2V relies on wireless communication. Wireless communication is vulnerable to hacking. Bad actors could intercept communications to send false warnings or trigger unnecessary braking. Imagine a hacker sending a signal to a hundred cars on a highway, telling them to brake suddenly. The result would be a multi-car pileup, not a safety improvement.
Strong security protocols are essential. Encryption, authentication, and intrusion detection systems must be built into the V2V architecture. The Ministry has not specified any security standards. It has not explained how it will prevent hacking. It has not assured the public that the system is safe.
Another risk is network channel congestion. The international standard for V2V communication is 5.9 GHz. This band is limited. If thousands of vehicles in a city are all broadcasting data simultaneously, the network could become congested. Packets could be lost. Messages could be delayed. A delayed warning of a crash is as good as no warning. The Ministry has not explained how it will manage congestion.
The Fundamental Problem: Roads Not Ready for Technology
More fundamentally, the country lacks proper road design, routing, and speed control while road use is dominated by two-wheelers, pedestrians, and non-motorised traffic. V2V is designed for cars and trucks. Two-wheelers can also be equipped, but they are more vulnerable. Pedestrians and non-motorised traffic cannot be equipped at all. V2V does not work if most road users are not in the network.
India’s roads are poorly designed. They lack proper signage, lighting, and markings. They have sharp curves, narrow lanes, and hidden intersections. They are shared by vehicles of vastly different speeds and sizes. A V2V system cannot fix a badly designed road. It can only warn drivers of dangers. If the danger is everywhere, the warnings become noise.
If a city is not ‘smart’, a ‘Smart City’ solution such as V2V will be marginal at best. The government has spent billions on the Smart Cities Mission. But most cities are not smart. They still have potholes, broken traffic lights, and chaotic traffic. V2V will not fix any of this.
The Way Forward: Phased Rollout, Infrastructure First
If the technology is to help mitigate the deadliness of India’s roads, the Ministry must slowly roll out both infrastructure and training, with phased mandates and subsidies, first. The technology should be introduced first on high-quality highways, where the benefits are greatest and the risks lowest. It should be rolled out gradually to other roads as the infrastructure improves.
The Ministry must invest in road design. This means fixing the existing roads and building new roads to international standards. It means separating different types of traffic: cars and trucks in one lane, two-wheelers in another, pedestrians on footpaths. It means installing proper lighting, signage, and markings. It means enforcing speed limits and traffic rules.
The Ministry must also invest in training. Drivers need to be educated about V2V. They need to understand what the alerts mean and how to respond. They need to be tested on their knowledge. The training should be integrated into the driver licensing system.
The Ministry must provide subsidies. The cost of V2V hardware should not be borne entirely by vehicle owners. The government should provide subsidies to encourage early adoption. The subsidies could be phased out as the technology becomes cheaper and more widespread.
Conclusion: Getting the Order Right
India has a tendency to adopt solutions that are only feasible at scale but struggles to operationalise that scale. V2V is a classic example. The technology works in theory. It works in practice in countries with good roads, trained drivers, and high adoption rates. But India has none of these. Implementing V2V now, without fixing the fundamentals, is putting the cart before the horse.
The Ministry must get the order right. First, fix the roads. Second, train the drivers. Third, roll out the technology. V2V can be a valuable tool for improving road safety. But it is not a magic bullet. It cannot compensate for poor road design, untrained drivers, or a chaotic traffic environment. The Ministry must invest in the basics before it invests in the advanced. Otherwise, the technology will be marginal at best, and dangerous at worst.
Q&A: V2V Technology and Road Safety in India
Q1: What is the scale of India’s road safety crisis, and what recent incidents have prompted attention?
A1: According to government data, over 1.5 lakh people die in road accidents every year—more than 400 deaths daily. The economic cost is estimated at 3-5 per cent of GDP. A spate of accidents in April 2026 in Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh killed more than 50 people in a matter of days. The Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance of two similar incidents in 2025 and, on April 26, asserted that the state must “proactively enforce the constitutional right to life and remove any obstructions in highways’ right of way.” The article notes: “These are not isolated incidents; they are symptoms of a systemic failure.”
Q2: What is V2V technology, and what are the potential benefits?
A2: V2V (vehicle-to-vehicle) is part of the wider V2X (vehicle-to-everything) scheme where vehicles communicate with each other (V2V), infrastructure like traffic lights (V2I), and pedestrians (V2P). Vehicles broadcast location, speed, direction, and other data to nearby vehicles. If a car brakes suddenly, it signals the car behind to brake automatically or alert the driver. The US Department of Transportation estimates V2V could reduce “unimpaired vehicle crashes by 80 per cent.” The technology is “proven” in developed countries with good roads, trained drivers, and high adoption rates.
Q3: What are the major challenges to implementing V2V in India?
A3: The article identifies five major challenges:
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Hardware cost: Vehicle owners already face “steep compliance costs” (location tracking devices, high-security registration plates). Adding V2V hardware will increase costs significantly. The Ministry has not yet specified which standard (DSRC or C-V2X) India will use.
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Training gap: “Many commercial drivers are not used to driving environments with interfaces and are under-trained to interpret vehicle alerts.” A truck driver with decades of experience will not adapt overnight.
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Security risks: “Bad actors could intercept communications to send false warnings or trigger unnecessary braking” without strong security protocols. V2V also risks “network channel congestion” (5.9 GHz band is limited) and packet loss.
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Fundamental road problems: India lacks “proper road design, routing, and speed control.” Road use is “dominated by two-wheelers, pedestrians, and non-motorised traffic”—V2V cannot protect these users.
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Network effect problem: “Early adopters will bear the full cost while enjoying underwhelming benefits” because V2V is only useful when other vehicles also have it.
Q4: Why is V2V unlikely to be effective until India’s roads are upgraded first?
A4: The article argues that “if a city is not ‘smart’, a ‘Smart City’ solution such as V2V will be marginal at best.” India’s roads are “poorly designed” with “lack proper signage, lighting, and markings,” “sharp curves, narrow lanes, and hidden intersections,” and are “shared by vehicles of vastly different speeds and sizes.” A V2V system “cannot fix a badly designed road. It can only warn drivers of dangers. If the danger is everywhere, the warnings become noise.” V2V is designed for cars and trucks—two-wheelers are more vulnerable, and pedestrians and non-motorised traffic cannot be equipped at all.
Q5: What does the article recommend as the correct sequence for implementing V2V in India?
A5: The article recommends a phased approach:
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First, fix the roads: Invest in “road design” including “fixing the existing roads and building new roads to international standards,” separating different types of traffic, and installing “proper lighting, signage, and markings.”
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Second, train the drivers: Drivers need to be “educated about what V2V does, how to respond to alerts, and what to do if the system fails.” Training should be “integrated into the driver licensing system.”
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Third, roll out the technology: Introduce V2V “first on high-quality highways, where the benefits are greatest and the risks lowest,” then “roll out gradually to other roads as the infrastructure improves.”
The Ministry must also provide “subsidies to encourage early adoption” and ensure “strong security protocols are essential: encryption, authentication, and intrusion detection systems.” The article concludes: “Implementing V2V now, without fixing the fundamentals, is putting the cart before the horse. The Ministry must get the order right.” V2V can be a “valuable tool” but “cannot compensate for poor road design, untrained drivers, or a chaotic traffic environment.” Otherwise, the technology will be “marginal at best, and dangerous at worst.”
