NHAI launches pilot to warn drivers of stray cattle on high-risk highway stretches

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on Wednesday announced the launch of a pilot project to provide real-time safety alerts for stray cattle movement on select National Highway corridors to reduce accidents caused by sudden animal crossings.

The pilot project is being implemented on the Jaipur–Agra and Jaipur–Rewari National Highway corridors, which have been identified as high-risk stretches for stray cattle movement, particularly during foggy and low-visibility conditions.

The initiative is part of NHAI’s road safety measures being rolled out during ‘Road Safety Month 2026’ and is being implemented in collaboration with telecom service providers to deliver timely safety alerts to highway commuters.

Pilot corridors and alert mechanism

“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,” NHAI said.

To ensure effective communication, safety advisories during the pilot phase will be delivered through a Flash SMS, followed by a voice alert. The Flash SMS alert will be issued, stating that a stray cattle–prone area lies ahead and advising commuters to drive slowly and carefully, followed by a voice alert conveying the same safety message.

To prevent alert fatigue among commuters, repeat alerts will not be issued to the same user within a 30-minute window.

The initiative will leverage telecom technology to deliver 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 from historical accident data and field-level inputs.

“As part of the initiative, Reliance Jio has upgraded its platform to enable nationwide delivery of these real-time stray cattle safety alerts,” NHAI said. Last month, NHAI had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Reliance Jio to introduce a telecom-based safety alert system across the National Highway network.

Based on the outcomes and effectiveness of the pilot project, NHAI said it will evaluate the possibility of scaling up the 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.