If you are planning a long trip, the time of day may be more important than you think. A new road safety study has found that the time between 9 PM and 10 PM is the most dangerous hour to be on Indian roads, while driving between 1 PM and 2 PM appears to be the safest. The findings are based on the India Road Safety Report (IRSR) 2026 released by Zuno General Insurance.The report analyzed more than 4.5 million trips, more than 55 million driving kilometers and information from 27,000 users of the Zuno SmartDrive app spread across 17 countries.
Some key findings from the report:
According to the study, driving behavior remains stable for most of the day but begins to deteriorate after 8 PM. Average driving speed drops to 86 between 9 PM and 10 PM, making it the most dangerous time for drivers. In comparison, drivers recorded 93 between 1 PM and 2 PM, the highest among all time slots analyzed.The report also challenges some of the common misconceptions about driving. Women and men scored about the same number of cars, with women scoring 92.86 and men 92.43. These findings suggest that driving behavior, rather than demographics, provides a clearer picture of road accidents.The researchers identified sudden acceleration and acceleration as the weakest driving behavior in Indian motorists. Brakes suddenly received a score of 87, while dangerous acceleration received 91. These habits are often associated with unsafe driving and can lead to more accidents.Interestingly, climate change did not significantly affect driving behavior. The number of motor vehicles remains constant in summer, monsoon and winter, indicating that the behavior of motorists plays a bigger role in road safety than the weather.The report also highlights a major problem. According to their findings, behavior is responsible for more than 80 percent of road accidents in India. These include things like speeding, distracted driving and unsafe driving. Road safety continues to be a major issue in the country. India records about 1.73 lakh road deaths every year, accounting for about 11 percent of the world’s road deaths. The economic impact is also significant, with road accidents estimated to cost between 3 percent and 5 percent of the country’s GDP. About two-thirds of those who die are between the ages of 18 and 45.The report also shows that vulnerable road users are the most affected. 44 percent of people die on roads in India, and pedestrians account for about 19 percent of all pedestrian deaths.
