Not only is the Punjab Police ensuring the safety of residents from criminals, but it is also setting new standards with its flagship project of Sadak Surakhya Force (SSF), a dedicated highway patrol for saving the lives of commuters and making Punjab Police the first 3D Police Force in India by integrating drones, satellite imagery, and AI-powered predictive systems.
The Punjab SSF, introduced as a dedicated force for highway safety, focuses exclusively on patrolling designated stretches of highways and major roads. The impact of the dedicated highway patrol is already visible on the roads it mans. Unlike conventional policing, SSF personnel are not diverted for routine law-and-order duties, with their primary focus being road safety, rapid response, and assistance to accident victims. On this, Punjab DGP (Director General of Police)Gaurav Yadav stated, “Personnel received specialised training, including crash investigation and emergency medical response. “The sole target of this project is making Punjab India’s road safety hub using science, systems, and synergy. Punjab Police will use satellite communication and geospatial data for incident mapping, congestion prediction, and disaster management. With Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR)-based enforcement, predictive analytics and mobile interceptors, the police have already achieved an average accident response time of under seven minutes. Under the ‘Road Safety Punjab’ vision, traffic management is being transformed using the 7E Framework: Engineering, Enforcement, Education, Electronics, Emergency Care, Engagement and Evaluation. This strategy marks a shift from intuition-based management to an evidence-based, technology-driven approach.
From February 2024 to January 2026, the SSF attended 43,983 road accidents, helping a total of 47,386 people. During these interventions, 19,973 persons were provided first aid on the spot, while 27,413 injured persons were shifted to hospitals, contributing towards saving lives through prompt emergency response and medical assistance. For the last two years, reports consistently show a massive 45-48 percent drop in road accident fatalities on the specific highway stretches they patrol. On such SSF-manned roads, fatalities reportedly dropped from 1,955 in 2023 to 1,016 in 2024. That’s approximately 940 lives saved on those specific corridors in about a year.
The SSF is already India’s first dedicated force for highway safety,” said the DGP.
The vehicles are equipped with speed guns, alcometers (breathalyzers), e-challan machines, dash cams and first-aid kits. The SSF, on the other hand, received highly specialised training with a clear, non-negotiable priority: saving lives. The SSF personnel were put through specific training modules on emergency response and first aid, including training from the Red Cross, and are trained in ‘crash investigation’.
The entire force is built around one concept: the platinum 10 minutes, which mandates reaching an accident victim within six to eight minutes to provide immediate medical relief before the ambulance or hospital takes over.”
Built around the “platinum 10 minutes” principle, SSF personnel aim to reach accident victims within six to eight minutes to provide immediate medical assistance before the ambulance or hospital takes over. Meanwhile, SDGP (Traffic & Road Safety Punjab) Amardeep Singh Rai said, “Regular police are trained for law and order, which is a very different and broad skillset.
