Rising Road Accidents in Assam: Supreme Court Directives Ignored, Illegal Highway Parking and Dhabas Fuel Fatal Crashes

Staff Reporter

Guwahati: The deadly accident that claimed the lives of three young women in the city in the wee hours of Sunday could have been avoided if the state’s authorities had strictly followed the recent Supreme Court directive prohibiting parking heavy vehicles by the roadside on highways. The monitoring of illegal parking or stoppage of vehicles by the roadside is the responsibility of state authorities.

Haphazard parking of heavy and commercial vehicles and the mushrooming of dhabas and eateries along the highways is a common scenario. A drive on the highway bypass of Guwahati will reveal that unruly parking of vehicles, particularly near eateries, is rampant. Trucks are even seen parking and partially blocking the service roads along the highway meant for the passage of smaller or slow-moving vehicles.

Last week, the Supreme Court had issued a 13-point directive to the transport departments of the central and state governments regarding safe travel, parking, the removal of illegal dhabas, etc. However, many district authorities in Assam seem to be unaware of these issues, nor have they received any direction from Dispur in this regard. The Supreme Court had directed that a highway safety task force be established in the states within 60 days. The primary responsibility of such a task force is to monitor the illegal dhabas and haphazard parking by commercial vehicles on the highways.

The Supreme Court had directed the state governments to issue notifications within 60 days prohibiting any commercial activity within 75 metres from the midpoint of the highway. Additionally, any illegal dhabas within that 75-metre limit should be demolished.

Due to the negligence of the district administration, police and the transport department in adopting safe travel measures, the number of road accidents in Assam has been continuously increasing. In 2020, the number of road accidents was 6595; in 2021, it was 7441; in 2022, it was 7023; in 2023, it was 7421; in 2024, it was 7846; and in 2025, the number of accidents increased to 8890.

Among the primary reasons for road accidents are reckless driving, traffic rule violations, untrained drivers of heavy vehicles, improper signage and technically faulty road construction.

Also Read: Assam: Crackdown to begin on illegal parking near hospitals in Silchar