Another “probe” after bus–car collision, but still no roadmap for safer highways in J&K
Another life lost, three more hanging in the balance. A bus from Rajouri to Jammu and a car from Lamberi to Nowshera collide in the Rajal–Bagnoti stretch of Nowshera sector; a 25-year-old (approx) is killed on the spot, and three co-travellers are rushed to hospital with serious injuries. Police say cognisance has been taken, a probe is underway, and the cause is “yet to be ascertained”. We have heard this script far too many times. This is not an “accident” in the sense of the unforeseeable. It is the predictable outcome of a lethal mix: crumbling road infrastructure, indifferent enforcement, overworked commercial drivers, and a system that wakes up only to count the dead, not to prevent the next funeral.
The Rajouri–Jammu corridor, like many arterial roads in Jammu and Kashmir, has become a moving graveyard. Every few weeks, there is another crash in Rajouri, Poonch, Ramban, Doda, Kishtwar or Udhampur. Committees are formed, reports promised, “strict action” vowed. Then the headlines fade, the file gathers dust, and the same road, with the same blind curves, broken shoulders and absent signage, is handed back to fate.
Why, in 2026, are we still dependent on “cognizance has been taken” as the highest form of accountability? Where is the district-wise, publicly available road safety audit? Where are speed-calming measures on known black spots like Rajal–Bagnoti? Why are passenger buses allowed to barrel down narrow, damaged stretches without functional speed governors, GPS tracking, or meaningful checks on over-speeding and driver fatigue? The administration cannot hide behind the fig leaf of a “detailed probe” every time metal meets metal and a young man does not return home. Probes must lead to prosecutions, penalties, and permanent engineering fixes, not just another bland paragraph in a police communiqué.
This death should trigger at least five immediate, time-bound actions:
Declare and publish black spots on all major routes in Rajouri and adjoining districts, with a clear remedial plan and deadlines.
Mandatory technology-based enforcement — speed cameras, automatic challans, and GPS tracking for all commercial vehicles on the Rajouri–Jammu axis.
Quarterly driver fitness and training audits for bus operators, with suspension of permits for repeat violations.
Independent crash investigation for every fatal accident, with findings tabled in the Legislative Assembly and placed in the public domain.
Victim support protocols so that families are not left to navigate compensation and medico-legal formalities alone.
A society that normalises road deaths as mere “mishaps” is complicit in them. The Rajouri accident must not become just another line in the growing ledger of avoidable tragedies on J&K’s roads. The government must either deliver a measurable reduction in crashes, or admit that on road safety, it has chosen convenience over human life.
