Gandhinagar: A 64.7-km stretch of National Highway 48 between Vemali in Vadodara district and Varedia in neighbouring Bharuch has been identified by the Gujarat Road Safety Authority (GRSA) as one of the “vulnerable stretches” prone to road accidents. The authority, which coordinates with various state govt departments to make roads safer, has said that wrong-way driving was one of the major reasons for this stretch being prone to fatal accidents.According to the GRSA annual report for 2024-25, which was tabled in the recently concluded budget session of the Gujarat assembly, between 2022 and 2024, there were 253 fatal accidents on the stretch between Vemali and Varedia, resulting in 281 fatalities, of which 53 fatalities were because of head-on collisions. “Despite being a four-lane divided highway, head-on collisions are common on this stretch, indicating frequent instances of wrong-way driving,” the report said. The report said that between 2022 and 2024, there were 47 head-on collisions between vehicles on this stretch of road, resulting in 53 fatalities. There were 62 instances where a vehicle was hit from the rear, resulting in total 66 deaths, and 30 instances where vehicles collided sideways, resulting in 31 deaths. During the same period, 78 pedestrians were also killed on this 64.7-km stretch of land. Using the iRAD (Integrated Road Accident Database), 20 stretches with a high number of fatal and grievous accidents were identified, and this information was relayed to the relevant DRSC (district road safety committee) or CRSC (city road safety committee) to investigate the causes of accidents and implement immediate corrective measures, the report said. The report stated that during 2024-25, GRSA conducted site visits to 32 identified blind spots across Navsari, Narmada, Surat and Mahisagar districts, along with 12 additional visits to stretches of road considered particularly vulnerable. “Based on these assessments, GRSA proposed targeted safety interventions tailored to the specific challenges at each site,” the report said. Box: iRAD databaseThe Integrated Road Accident Database (iRAD) is a World Bank-funded, Union ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) initiative that digitises, analyses and maps accident data to enhance road safety in India. It enables police, health and transport departments to capture real-time, site-specific data via mobile apps to identify accident causes and rectify hazardous locations. The database connects four key departments — police, health, public works department (PWD) and transport — for coordinated action and data sharing.
