Delhi, Jan 14:As a part of road safety initiatives to commemorate ‘Road Safety Month 2026’ and reduce accidents caused by sudden cattle movement on National Highways, NHAI in collaboration with telecom service providers, has launched a pilot initiative to deliver real-time safety alerts to National Highway users approaching stray cattle–prone zones.
The initiative is aimed at reducing accidents caused by sudden cattle movement on the National Highways, particularly during fog and low-visibility conditions.
A pilot is being implemented on the Jaipur–Agra and Jaipur–Rewari National Highway corridors, which have been identified as areas prone to stray cattle movement. Under the pilot project, location-based alerts will be triggered for the National Highway commuters, providing advance warnings approximately 10 km before identified high-risk stretches. This will provide commuters with some lead time to take precautionary measures.
To ensure effective communication with National Highway commuters, during the pilot project safety advisory will be delivered through a Flash SMS, followed by a voice alert. The Flash SMS alert will be issued in Hindi, stating: “आगे आवारा पशु ग्रस्त क्षेत्र है। कृपया धीरे और सावधानी से चलें।” followed by a voice alert conveying the same safety message. To prevent alert fatigue, repeat alerts will not be issued to the same user within a 30-minute window.
The initiative will leverage telecom technology to provide timely and targeted advisories, thereby improving driver awareness and enhancing safety on National Highways. Alerts will be generated based on mapped cattle-prone zones identified through historical accident data as well as field-level inputs and will be delivered using the upgraded telecom infrastructure. As part of the initiative, Reliance Jio has upgraded its platform to enable nation-wide delivery of these real-time alerts.
Based on the outcomes and effectiveness of the pilot, NHAI will evaluate the possibility of scaling up this initiative to other stray cattle–prone zones, as part of its ongoing efforts to improve road safety and enhance user experience on National Highways across the country.
