When nearly a third of all fatalities are concentrated on highway stretches, the debate can no longer be reduced to routine statements about “road safety” and “human error”. The fact that the 18 to 25 age group recorded the highest number of highway deaths between 2022 and 2025 should shock policymakers into action. Education, enforcement, engineering and emergency care are useful pillars, but they cannot remain a slogan. Road safety audits must identify black spots and dangerous design flaws in a time-bound manner. The tragedy of J&K’s road deaths is that many are preventable.