Court case(2014) 6 SCC 36

Dr. S. Rajaseekaran, an orthopaedic surgeon from Coimbatore who treated a large number of road accident victims, filed a public interest petition under Article 32 in 2012. He placed before the Court data showing that India had one of the highest numbers of road accident deaths in the world, and contended that the failure of the Union and the States to frame and enforce a comprehensive road safety policy - on licensing, enforcement of traffic laws, helmets and seat belts, drunken driving, road engineering and trauma care - violated the right to life of road users under Article 21. The Union and the States placed on record the measures taken by them.

By its order reported in 2014 the Supreme Court found that, despite the Motor Vehicles Act and various policies, road safety measures were not being effectively implemented, and that a monitoring mechanism was needed. It constituted a Committee on Road Safety, headed by Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan, a former judge of the Court, to monitor and report on the measures taken by the Union and the States and on compliance with road safety laws. In subsequent orders on the Committee's reports, the Court issued a series of directions to States and Union Territories, including on road safety policies, councils and funds, enforcement of laws on helmets, seat belts, speeding, overloading and drunken driving, lane driving and trauma care facilities, and in 2018 it directed that new cars and two-wheelers be sold with long-term third-party insurance cover.