Ipsos Survey 2026 Finds Indians Back Stronger Road Safety Steps

A landmark new survey has confirmed what India's road safety advocates have long argued: the Indian public is not indifferent to road safety — it is actively concerned, broadly informed, and ready to back a comprehensive range of solutions. The Ipsos Global Mobility Survey 2026, covering 31 markets worldwide, reveals that 63 percent of Indians surveyed are concerned about road safety in their area — a figure that places India among the most safety-conscious nations in the survey, and one that carries significant implications for how policymakers, industry, and civil society can build momentum for the reforms India urgently needs.

Overview of the Ipsos Global Mobility Survey 2026

A 31-Market Study That Places India's Road Safety Sentiment in Global Context

The Ipsos Global Mobility Survey 2026 is one of the most comprehensive cross-national studies of public attitudes toward road safety conducted in recent years. Covering 31 markets across Asia, Europe, the Americas, and Africa, the survey provides a uniquely detailed picture of how citizens in different countries perceive road safety risks, evaluate the effectiveness of various interventions, and express their willingness to support specific policy measures.

In India, the survey sample consisted of approximately 2,200 individuals — of whom approximately 1,800 were interviewed face-to-face and 400 online — providing a robust and representative basis for the India-specific findings. The survey was conducted across adults aged 18 and older, ensuring that the results reflect the views of the country's active road-using population.

The survey's findings arrive at a moment of heightened national focus on road safety in India — with the Sadak Suraksha Abhiyan 2026, Supreme Court directives on highway safety, and a range of state and national technology and infrastructure initiatives all converging to create one of the most active road safety policy environments the country has seen in years.

63 Percent of Indians Concerned About Road Safety

High Concern That Demands a High-Quality Policy Response

The headline finding of the Ipsos survey — that 63 percent of Indians surveyed express concern about road safety in their area — is a number that deserves careful interpretation. It is not merely a sentiment measure. It is a signal of public readiness that, if harnessed effectively by policymakers and communicators, can be converted into the sustained behavioural change and civic engagement that India's road safety transformation requires.

This level of concern places India well above some of the world's most affluent and safety-conscious markets. South Korea and Germany — countries with far lower road fatality rates than India — register concern at just 36 percent, reflecting the reality that citizens in safer road environments feel less personally at risk.

India's 63 percent concern level reflects the lived experience of millions of road users who encounter dangerous conditions, near-misses, or the consequences of road accidents in their communities on a regular basis.

The personal dimension of road safety concern in India is significant. In a country where over 1.68 lakh lives are lost each year to road accidents, as noted by Balaji Pandiaraj, Group Service Line Leader, Automotive and Mobility Development and Customer Experience at Ipsos India, the concern is not abstract — it is grounded in direct or proximate experience of the crisis. This makes Indian public support for road safety measures particularly robust and actionable.

Broad Public Support Across Multiple Road Safety Measures

Not One Fix But a Comprehensive Solution — Indians Get It

One of the most significant and encouraging findings of the Ipsos survey is the breadth of Indian public support across a wide range of road safety interventions — rather than concentration in any single preferred solution. Around 63 percent of Indians support stricter traffic laws, in line with the global average of 66 percent. Support extends across multiple interventions, with 62 percent backing enhanced driver education programmes and close to two-thirds supporting reduced speed limits across residential streets, main roads, and highways.

A similar proportion also supports dedicated cycling lanes, prioritising pedestrians and cyclists in school zones, and the use of road safety campaigns to influence behaviour. Rather than peaking in one area, public opinion in India shows a consistent pattern of steady support across a wide range of measures — indicating that citizens are not looking for a single fix but recognise the need for a comprehensive approach spanning enforcement, education, infrastructure, and awareness.

This breadth of support is particularly valuable from a policy perspective. It means that the multi-pronged approach to road safety that experts consistently advocate — combining engineering interventions, enforcement mechanisms, driver education, and public awareness — has a strong base of public legitimacy from which it can be pursued. Citizens will not resist a comprehensive road safety programme; they are actively asking for one.

India's Position in the Global Road Safety Concern Landscape

Between the Extremes — High Concern, Measured Support

The Ipsos survey provides a rich comparative context for understanding India's road safety sentiment within a global framework. Countries such as South Africa and Indonesia show significantly higher levels of support across multiple measures — often exceeding 80 percent — reflecting strong public demand for decisive action in environments where road safety outcomes remain severe. In contrast, countries with more mature road safety systems, such as Japan and Germany, show lower levels of support in some cases below 50 percent, suggesting that established norms and safer conditions reduce the perceived urgency of additional interventions.

India sits between these extremes, combining relatively high concern with broad but measured support for solutions. At 76 percent concern, Peru leads the survey — suggesting that the Latin American experience of rapid urbanisation and high road accident rates creates a degree of public urgency that even India's serious road safety challenge has not yet matched in the survey data.

This positioning is both a reflection of where India is in its road safety journey and an indicator of the direction of travel. As more Indians directly experience the consequences of road accidents — and as national conversations around initiatives like the Sadak Suraksha Abhiyan, the Supreme Court's highway safety directives, and Bihar's ITMS project raise public awareness of the issue — the foundation of concern and support identified by the Ipsos survey is likely to deepen and broaden.

Sadak Suraksha Abhiyan and the Role of Communication

63 Percent of Indians Believe Road Safety Advertising Works

Perhaps the most immediately actionable finding of the Ipsos survey for India's road safety communication ecosystem is this: 63 percent of Indian respondents agree that road safety advertising and communication is effective in reducing unsafe driving behaviour. This is a finding that directly validates the investment that initiatives like the Sadak Suraksha Abhiyan are making in public communication as a behaviour change tool.

Balaji Pandiaraj of Ipsos India connected this finding explicitly to the national policy context: the findings come at a time when India is intensifying its national focus on road safety through initiatives such as the Sadak Suraksha Abhiyan 2026, led by Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari. The campaign is designed as a nationwide movement built on four pillars — Discipline, Duty, Shield, and Change — with the aim of transforming road safety into a shared moral responsibility.

The alignment between the survey's finding on communication effectiveness and the Sadak Suraksha Abhiyan's communication-heavy approach is striking. When nearly two-thirds of the Indian public believes that road safety advertising can change behaviour, the investment in sustained, high-quality, multi-channel road safety communication is not merely justified — it is strategically essential. A public that believes communication works is a public that is receptive to being reached.

By combining high-tech infrastructure such as zero fatality corridors and AI-led enforcement with youth-driven education and wider public engagement, the Sadak Suraksha Abhiyan seeks to shift road safety from compliance-driven behaviour to voluntary habit formation. Partnerships with schools and public figures are also intended to embed a long-term culture of responsible road use — a goal that the Ipsos survey's findings suggest the Indian public is genuinely ready to support.

Converting Public Support Into Lasting Behavioural Change

The Opportunity India Must Not Miss

The convergence of high public concern, broad support for solutions, and receptivity to road safety communication identified by the Ipsos survey represents a genuine and time-sensitive opportunity for India's road safety ecosystem. As Pandiaraj observed, what stands out in India is the breadth of support — people are backing not just one solution but a full range of measures from stricter laws to safer road design and better education. The opportunity now is to convert this broad public support into sustained action and lasting behaviour change.

Converting public support into behavioural change requires more than awareness — it requires visible, consistent enforcement that makes safe behaviour the norm; infrastructure improvements that make safe choices the easy choices; education programmes that embed safety values before habits are formed; and communication that keeps road safety in public consciousness between enforcement drives and policy announcements.

The Ipsos survey does not merely measure where India stands — it points to where India can go. With more than 1.68 lakh lives lost annually, and with a public that is concerned, supportive, and receptive to action, the question for India's road safety community is not whether the foundation for change exists. It clearly does. The question is whether the institutions, policies, and programmes can match the public's readiness — and deliver the safer roads that 63 percent of Indians are asking for.