Hyderabad sees surge in licence-less driving cases
HYDERABAD: Violations of driving licence (DL) norms, a key pillar of road safety, are rising sharply in the city and across the state, even as enforcement action remains weak.
Cases of driving without a licence jumped 61.5% in 2025–26 compared with the previous year, increasing from 21,744 to 35,339, official data show. In contrast, licence cancellations fell 47.27% during the same period, highlighting a widening gap between violations and deterrent action.
Weak enforcement, rising violations
Apart from licence-less driving, widespread breaches include overloading of vehicles, absence of reflector tape, and failure to comply with the mandatory headlight masking rule. Under the norm, half of every vehicle’s headlight must be blacked out to ensure the beam falls on the road and does not dazzle oncoming drivers. Large numbers of motorists continue to ignore this requirement.
Officials point out that newly installed high-intensity LED headlights have made matters worse, as their glare directly affects drivers approaching from the opposite direction, increasing the risk of crashes.
Engineering flaws persist on roads
Road safety experts stress that awareness campaigns alone cannot reduce accidents without fixing infrastructure defects. In 2023, the state identified 979 accident-prone black spots on highways and major roads. This number marginally declined to 936 in 2024, but hundreds of stretches with serious engineering flaws continue to remain unattended.
The impact is visible in fatality figures. In 2025, as many as 7,517 people lost their lives in road accidents across the state.
Awareness–enforcement gap
While road safety month is observed every January and awareness programmes are held periodically, experts say these initiatives often fail to translate into consistent enforcement on the ground. An analysis of accident and violation data shows a clear disconnect between public awareness drives and strict implementation of traffic rules.
Road safety specialists argue that only a coordinated approach combining public awareness, safer road engineering, and firm enforcement can bring down accident numbers meaningfully.
