Bhubaneswar: To curb accident fatalities, the Odisha govt is planning to launch a new road safety initiative centred on building “forgiving” roads across the state. Also, zero‑fatality corridors will be developed following comprehensive safety audits.Transport officials explained that forgiving roads are designed to minimise the impact of crashes by incorporating features such as clear zones free of roadside hazards, crash barriers, breakaway poles, and gentler curves.“Roads should be designed to absorb human error rather than punish it, and layouts should be intuitive enough to steer drivers toward safer behaviour. Forgiving roads minimise the fallout of mistakes, while self‑explaining roads use uniform design, signage, and visual cues to make the right choices obvious. The aim is to build networks that recognise human fallibility and channel it into safety,” a senior transport official said.Pilot projects will be rolled out along accident‑prone corridors, with plans to expand statewide. The govt is also exploring collaborations with technical institutes to adapt national and international best practices.The initiative comes amid concern over Odisha’s high accident toll. Govt data shows 18,364 people died in road crashes between 2023 and 2025, largely due to over‑speeding, poor engineering, and lack of awareness.“Our plans for ‘forgiving roads’ and ‘zero‑fatality corridors’ will take shape at a state‑level technical workshop later this month, bringing together experts from ministry of road transport and highways, national highways authority of India, Indian Roads Congress, and the commerce and transport department. Regional workshops will follow in Berhampur, Rourkela, Sambalpur and Cuttack to disseminate outcomes,” the official said.Zero‑fatality corridors are being identified on select stretches of public works department roads and national highways. “These will serve as templates for transforming the entire network into a safer, crash‑resilient system,” the officer added.The plan also envisages mandatory highway patrolling and ambulance deployment at accident‑prone points across major roads. “Blackspots and vulnerable stretches will be mapped, with corrective measures taken under the 2026‑27 annual plan to ensure no location is left unattended. Junctions will be redesigned strictly as per Indian Roads Congress standards, while draft policies on pedestrian safety and wayside amenities are being finalised,” the officer said.
