Heavy vehicles turn city roads into risky tracks

New Delhi: For motorists, the sight of massive trucks and commercial vehicles on the city streets is nothing new. In recent years, the roads seem to metamorphose into a racing track for commercial vehicles at night, with many of them driven with scant regard for traffic rules. In Jan and Feb alone, these heavyweights have been involved in as many as 122 accidents. To curb this trend, Delhi Traffic Police is cracking down and tightening no-entry restrictions and not permitting such overloaded vehicles to run on the capital’s roads.
The vehicles include heavy transport and goods vehicles, tempos, cranes, tractors, even delivery vans, with around 48% of them being transport and goods vehicles. According to official data, from 2021 fatal accidents involving HTV/goods vehicles and other commercial vehicles surged at least 14% till 2024.In 2023, such fatal accidents involving these vehicles numbered at least 267, which rose to 294 in 2024. Before that, it was at least 240 in 2021 and at least 258 in 2022. The fatalities were at least 292 in 2023 and 317 in 2024. The number of simple accidents and overall accidents are much higher.
A big challenge in regulating commercial vehicles is enforcement of the law. Despite existing no-entry rules, many trucks illegally enter restricted zones, especially at night, when police presence on the streets is lower. This unrestricted movement led to thousands of violations, with 93,684 challans issued for no-entry breaches in 2024 compared with 66,459 a year earlier — a staggering increase of 41%. Officials said that many of these vehicles were overloaded, making them more imbalanced and increasing the likelihood of accidents.
To tackle this, Delhi Traffic Police has now refused to grant entry into the city to the vehicles involved in the 122 accidents in Jan and Feb.

Satya Vir Katara, additional commissioner of police (Traffic), said, “These heavy commercial vehicles pose a serious risk, especially in densely populated areas and even during non-peak traffic hours sometimes. Many of these accidents occur due to overloading, brake failure, driver fatigue and reckless driving. Denying entry permission to them is not just about enforcing rules — it’s a lesson for them to avoid potential tragedies on our roads.These restrictions hope to ensure that commercial vehicles operate only during designated hours, reducing congestion and minimising the risk of collisions with smaller vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists. Strict enforcement will help create a safer and more disciplined traffic system in Delhi. system in Delhi.”