Punjab Must Publish Which Roads Failed Safety Checks

A 2023 law requires Punjab to publish which roads have failed a safety certificate, which vehicles are under recall, and the province's accident data. We went looking for all three. We found the headings.

The Authority exists, its website exists, and the categories the law names are listed on it. What we could not find on the pages we retrieved was data inside them.

We read the Punjab Road Safety Authority Act 2023 and the Authority's website at prsa.punjab.gov.pk on 12 September 2026.

The eight things the Act requires

The duty is expressed as a shall, and the list is exhaustive in the section rather than illustrative.

What we found when we looked

The Authority's site carries an Info Desk section, and the categories there line up closely with the Act. It lists certified and uncertified roads, accredited driving schools, driver's testing requirements, accidents statistics, vehicle classifications and specifications, road classifications and characteristics, and vehicles for modifications or upgradations. It also carries a blackspots section, which the Act does not require.

We opened five of those pages and looked at what came back. Each returned a page of about twenty four kilobytes. On the pages we retrieved we found no tables, no rows of data and no linked documents, only the heading and the site navigation.

One qualification matters and we are stating it rather than burying it. The site asks visitors to enable JavaScript, so we cannot rule out that the data loads in the browser rather than in the page we retrieved. We have hit exactly that on other government portals, and it is the reason we describe what we found rather than declaring the pages empty.

Separately, the word recall does not appear on the Authority's homepage or its Info Desk. The corresponding category is worded as vehicles for modifications or upgradations.

Why the failed roads list matters

Section 10 is the reason that one entry is worth more than the rest.

Every department, agency or authority responsible for an existing road must submit its design and alignment to the Road Design Safety Agency for a road safety audit. Anyone planning, designing or constructing a road must obtain a road design safety certificate before the scheme is approved, and an approved design cannot be altered without permission.

The Agency either issues the certificate or issues directions to alter the design to bring it into conformity with safety requirements. Where it issues directions, the body responsible for the road must take measures to comply.

So a published list of roads without safety certificates is not a technicality. It is a list of roads the province's own safety agency has not signed off.

The recall power nobody knows about

Section 19 gives a power most people would not expect a provincial authority to hold.

Where the Authority finds that a vehicle suffers from a manufacturing or design defect at any point in time which makes the vehicle unsafe, it may direct that the vehicle be recalled, modified or updated to make it safe.

If any person, including the manufacturer, fails to do so, the Authority may direct the registering authority to de-register the vehicle, and the registering authority shall proceed to de-register it within the period the Authority specifies.

Read the enforcement carefully. The consequence of ignoring a recall direction falls on the vehicle's registration, which is what makes it usable on a road at all.

Standards, and the fine behind them

Section 9 sets up a Vehicle Safety Agency to specify manufacturing standards for vehicles, attachments, trolleys and trailers, including body building and fabrication fixed on vehicles, and requirements for modification or alteration.

Manufacturers must certify compliance to the Agency, stating the checks made and the laboratory where they were made. The Agency may demand samples for inspection.

Then two prohibitions. No vehicle shall be registered, or continue to be registered, unless it complies with the Agency's standards. And no person shall ply a vehicle not registered in the province which does not comply with those standards.

Section 20 sets the penalty for plying a vehicle in violation of section 9 at a fine which may extend to five thousand rupees, and or confiscation of the vehicle in question. The fine is small. The confiscation is not.

Our guide to the six monthly fitness test for commercial vehicles covers the separate inspection regime, which is about the condition of an individual vehicle rather than the standard it was built to.

Driving schools now need accreditation

1. The Agency specifies requirements for driver training schools and instructors.
2. Every school must comply with those requirements.
3. The Agency grants accreditation to schools that do.
4. It may inspect or audit schools to check compliance.
5. It may also audit the procedures for testing and granting driving licences.

That last power is the interesting one. The Agency is not only regulating schools, it can audit the licence testing process itself against the standards it sets.

Our guide to applying for a driving licence covers the process, and our guide to getting a learner licence in Punjab covers the first step.

What happens after a crash

A Post-crash Investigation and Research Agency may investigate, or have investigated, whether an accident was caused by the condition of the vehicle, the condition or design of the road, or both. It does this when requested by the police or the Government, and reports its findings back to them.

The Act also places a duty on the police to maintain and provide a record of accidents in the manner the Authority specifies.

That pairing is what is supposed to turn individual crashes into the accident data section 26 requires. Our guide to motorway closures in fog covers a seasonal cause of crashes, and our guide to checking an e-challan covers enforcement against drivers.

If you want to ask

Where a public body holds information and has not published it, there is a route, and Punjab has a good one.

Our guide to forcing a government department to answer in Punjab covers it: plain paper is enough, you never have to give a reason, there is no fee to ask, and the deadline is fourteen working days. The Authority's own site carries a Right to Information section.

An officer who misses the deadline without reasonable cause can be fined personally. That is a stronger lever than asking twice.

Common questions

What must the Punjab Road Safety Authority publish?

Eight categories under section 26, including uncertified roads, vehicles subject to recall, accredited driving schools and accident data.

Can a vehicle be recalled in Punjab?

Yes. The Authority may direct a recall, modification or update where a manufacturing or design defect makes a vehicle unsafe.

What if a manufacturer ignores that?

The Authority may direct the registering authority to de-register the vehicle.

Do driving schools need accreditation?

Yes, from the Drivers Training and Safety Agency, which may also inspect and audit them.

Do new roads need a safety certificate?

Yes, before the scheme is approved, and an approved design cannot be altered without permission.

Did you find the published data?

We found the categories listed and no data in the pages we retrieved. The site asks for JavaScript, so we cannot rule out that it loads in the browser.

Last checked and sources

Last checked 12 September 2026. We downloaded the Punjab Road Safety Authority Act 2023 (XIII of 2023) from the Punjab Code portal at punjablaws.punjab.gov.pk, in the text published by the Law and Parliamentary Affairs Department, Government of the Punjab, and read it. Section 8 on the Drivers Training and Safety Agency, including the requirement that licensing officers comply with the Authority's standards, that the Agency specify requirements for driver training schools and instructors, grant accreditation, and inspect or audit both schools and the procedures for testing and granting driving licences; section 9 on the Vehicle Safety Agency, including the specification of manufacturing standards for vehicles, attachments, trolleys and trailers and for modification or alteration, the manufacturer's certificate stating the checks made and the laboratory used, the power to require samples, the bar on registering or continuing to register a non compliant vehicle, and the bar on plying a non compliant vehicle not registered in the province; section 10 on the Road Design Safety Agency, including submission of existing road designs for safety audit, the requirement to obtain a road design safety certificate before approval of a scheme, the bar on altering an approved design without permission, and the issue of directions to alter a design; section 11 on the Post-crash Investigation and Research Agency investigating whether an accident was caused by the condition of the vehicle or the condition or design of the road when requested by the police or Government, and the duty on police to maintain and provide a record of accidents; section 16 on powers of entry; section 17 giving thirty days to appeal; section 19 on recall, modification or updation of vehicles with a manufacturing or design defect and de-registration where that is not complied with; section 20 setting a fine which may extend to five thousand rupees and or confiscation for plying a vehicle in violation of section 9; and section 26 listing the eight items the Authority's website shall contain, are all taken from that text. Separately we opened the Authority's website at prsa.punjab.gov.pk on the same date and retrieved its home page, Info Desk and the pages for the list of certified and uncertified roads, the list of accredited driving schools, accidents statistics and driver's testing requirements. The Info Desk lists categories including certified and uncertified roads, accredited driving schools, driver's testing requirements, accidents statistics, vehicle classifications and specifications, road classifications and characteristics, vehicles for modifications or upgradations, blackspots, notifications, downloads and a right to information section. In the pages we retrieved we found no tables, no data rows and no linked documents, only headings and navigation. The site requests that JavaScript be enabled, so we cannot exclude the possibility that content is rendered in the browser rather than served in the page, and we have therefore described what we found rather than stating that the pages contain nothing. The word recall does not appear on the home page or Info Desk of the site as retrieved. We have drawn no conclusion about why, and none should be read into this. Confirm the current position on the Authority's own site before relying on anything here. Nothing here is legal advice.