HYDERABAD: Children in Hyderabad are learning an important lesson long before they enter a classroom: how to navigate traffic. Between speeding vehicles, overcrowded autos, missing zebra crossings and helmet-free rides, the journey to school is becoming a test of survival in itself.
Between January and May this year, Hyderabad recorded 1,604 road accidents, including 141 fatal crashes, 86 accidents causing grievous injuries and 1,377 resulting in minor injuries. A total of 128 children below the age of 18 were involved in road accidents during the period, including seven who died, four who suffered grievous injuries and 117 who sustained minor injuries.
The data were presented by joint commissioner of police (traffic) Joel Davis at a meeting on school student road safety held at Ravindra Bharathi on Friday.
The concern extends beyond Hyderabad. Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death among those aged five to 19 years, with about 45 children dying in road accidents every day in India. Nearly 2 lakh children lost their lives in road crashes between 2011 and 2025.
In Hyderabad, the challenge is intensified by rapid urban growth.The city has 92.96 lakh registered vehicles, with nearly 1,500 added daily.
To improve student safety,Hyderabad traffic police urged institutions to look beyond classrooms and focus on the journey to school. Authorities asked schools to track students’ modes of transport, deploy traffic marshals where needed, ensure adequate parking space and prevent overcrowding in auto-rickshaws, limiting them to six children.
The urgency of these measures is reflected in a recent survey of school zones across Telangana, which revealed glaring infrastructure deficiencies. About 80% of schools lacked official ‘School Zone’ warning boards and 90% did not have mandatory speed-limit signs.Nearly 70% of connecting roads had no zebra crossings, while a similar proportion of school entrances lacked speed breakers.
The survey further found that 60% of school zones were without proper footpaths and another 20% had severely restricted pedestrian space. Dedicated pick-up and drop-off zones were absent in 70% of schools, while 80% lacked structured accident-reporting systems. Not a single surveyed location had traffic enforcement cameras.
To address these shortcomings, UNICEF has developed safe school-zone infrastructure at 12 schools in Hyderabad, with officials urging private institutions to follow suit.
Officials stressed that parents also have a key role to play. They were urged to avoid overcrowding two-wheelers and auto-rickshaws, ensure children above four years wear helmets while riding pillion and never seat children below 12 in the front seat of a car. Notably, 94% of children killed in two-wheeler accidents were not wearing helmets.
Authorities also flagged persistent violations on city roads. Between January and May, police booked 2,539 cases of minor driving, suspended 719 vehicle registrations and caught 55,995 motorists using mobile phones while driving. During the previous academic year, 56 cases were registered against school bus drivers for drunk driving.
Driver health emerged as another concern. Of the 1,014 school drivers screened at special medical camps, 316 were found to have vision-related problems, prompting calls for regular health monitoring by school managements.
The issue is statewide. Telangana records nearly 7,000 road accident deaths annually, with children accounting for 10% to 15% of the fatalities. The state has 25,600 registered educational institutional buses.