Be it, the “Sonic Boom” from a fighter aircraft or the “Siren” (Wail- of an emergency response system), when it pierces the human ears, drops an array of satisfaction that — the problem has been “Identified”, and response is on the way.
Conversely, the response needs a way, and so, the way demands — freedom of Movement —Seamless passage, navigation on —Minimal Traffic, on the grey concrete. Between the principles of: Sense-reach-care, the middle one (Reach), find itself “Trapped” on the way.
The average travel time in Mumbai, per hour, is 18-21 km, whereby it partially drops during” Peak office hours”. Interestingly, for an “Emergency Response System” to play on the above statistics, the ERSs will maintain a speed of 2.5-3 minutes per kilometre. On the other hand, to cater to the accidents on the highway, the NHAI rules say, a 60 km/hour continuous speed limit is supposed to be achieved as part of the response system. Now, as this highlights, the average speed of ERSs is lurching and behind by 2.5 km/minute.
To correlate, a loss of every minute in cases of cardiac arrest reduces the survival rate by 7-10%, and so, the current loitering speed of ERS ambulances seems to have resulted in a 21-30% loss of survivability. And, this is critical. A perspective shift is required: Amassing intrinsic and extrinsic infrastructure could do the job of prevention, but the question of ingress and egress affecting Rescue is still unanswered in the glare of urban traffic phenomena.
Mumbai records the majority chunk of its precipitation during the monsoon, preferably from July to September, hovering between 470 mm and 800 mm; hence, it qualifies for a popular urban-related terminology called waterlogging.
Areas including Colaba, Powai, Malwani, and Borivali alone account for above 230 mm of rainfall. Thereafter, calls for EMRs ambulances uptick
During the monsoon, due to a rise in water-borne diseases, cites the BMC reports. Disease highlights name: Dengue, Malaria, Leptospirosis, etc.
The reports add that such cases are ranked top in the list of patients admitted during the monsoon season, in hospitals, stressing the emergency medical wards excessively. Many times: Hospital-to-hospital transfer calls, becomes imperative.
The demand for ambulances surges undoubtedly, yet, it is coupled with traffic challenges posed, on the way.
India, today – Deposits applauded, comprehensive government policy and legal framework governing the movement of emergency response systems.
The “Right of way” under regulation 27 of the “Motor Vehicle Regulation, 2017, is illustrious. It permits EMRs: Right of way over all other vehicles if sirens and flashers are activated. Under traffic exemption, such drivers are permitted to cross: red lights; drive on the highway’s hard shoulders; temporarily enter “No entry” or “One Way” streets, provided they do this with utmost caution.
Despite this, a wide range of grey spaces are left with ambiguity on what defines utmost caution. This could deprive the rider’s ability to take risks in averting any harm to the victim’s life, dignity, or property.
In Mumbai, some of the operational guidelines add to the efficiency caused to the operation of EMRs. To control-check, peak hour heavy vehicle bans: To keep arterial corridors seamless for quick public transit and emergency response, Mumbai endorses and enforces a peak hour ban on heavy vehicles (8 AM – 11 AM and 5 PM – 9 PM); however, emergency vehicles and ambulances are immune with this and enjoy all-time movement.
Orchestrating Real-time “Green Corridors” for critical medical situations (like organ transport or severe trauma), manually overriding traffic signals, making dynamic path across city.
The Mumbai police have expanded their ground capabilities by rolling out dedicated “Emergency Response Vehicles (ERVs) – Including
modified motorcycles and SUVs – Specifically designed to navigate high-footfall and high-congestion urban sectors.
The “World Health Organisation” – Golden Hour Benchmark aims for an 8-10-minute response time, as against 25-35 minutes in India today. In spite of intermittent challenges, such modalities can be dealt with a twin-track approach, usually involving short-term and long-term approaches in urban India.
A busy motor movement in urban spaces like Mumbai, policy could incorporate – Intelligent Dynamic Traffic Signal Preemption – that would sense an emergency vehicle, if approaching, to algorithm green-signal for the passage of such vehicle.
Alongside this, Deploying Multi-Modal first responders (motorcycles & Mini ERVs) at places with high density with essential life-support kit (AEDs, oxygen, trauma packs, etc). This will complement ambulances chasing and navigating behind.
Along with scientific short-term interventions, the country is expected to ride on long-term infrastructural overhaul to cater to such needs amid rising population, dynamic health challenges, evolving curation and medicines.
Firstly, the expansion of the air ambulance & Drone – Based Logistics: Building urban helipads and deploying automated medical delivery drones intervening with critical assets like (Blood bags, defibrillators, antivenom, organs) directly to crash sites or remote areas, typically bypassing ground congestion. This will enable the seamless passage of the highest–priority emergency logistics.
Secondly, AI-Driven Predictive positioning of fleets amid centralised traffic command. This could translate into processing and analysing typical traffic bottlenecks data, weather, time of the day, and accident hotspots to pre-position response units at places to increase dispatch speed and frequency. If this is coupled with command and control centres for live traffic control, it certainly will produce pleasant results.
Last but not least is “A dedicated emergency transit corridors & Adaptive Physical Infrastructure” – Re-engineering major urban arterial corridors to include dedicated – Emergency lanes or hard shoulders equipped with automated bollards, exclusively for authorized emergency fleets.
This will not just pay principles to right of way, but be tribute of ethical, just, inclusive governance for those trusting and paying tributes for governance in liberating personal liberties and attaining rights and duties as a reciprocal tradeoff in the social contract.
Underpinning seamless movement and passage is unequivocal for urban traffic management policy as against comfortable means of mobility. And so, the former is “Bedrock” for the movement of Emergency response systems.
References
Honda India Foundation. (2026, July 23). Honda India Foundation strengthens Mumbai Police mobility with 101 Emergency Response Vehicles [Press release]. India CSR. https://indiacsr.in/csr-honda-india-foundation-police-mobility-emergency-response-vehicles/
Jana, A., Sarkar, A., Parmar, V., & Saunik, S. (2023). Examining district-level disparity and determinants of timeliness of emergency medical services in Maharashtra, India. Scientific Reports, 13, Article 21239. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-48713-1
Larsen, M. P., Eisenberg, M. S., Cummins, R. O., & Hallstrom, A. P. (1993). Predicting survival from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: A graphic model. Annals of Emergency Medicine, 22(11), 1652–1658. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0196-0644(05)81302-2
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Modern Force. (2026). Mumbai imposes new traffic rules from February 1: What commuters and travellers need to know. https://www.modernforce.com/mumbai-imposes-new-traffic-rules-from-february-1-what-commuters-and-travellers-need-to-know/
Mumbai Live. (2026a). Mumbai Traffic Police create fastest green corridor for heart transplant via Atal Setu. Dailyhunt.
Mumbai Live. (2026b). Mumbai traffic update: Police imposes fresh ban on movement & parking of heavy vehicles from February 1 – Details here. https://www.mumbailive.com/en/civic/mumbai-traffic-police-imposes-fresh-ban-on-movement-and-parking-of-heavy-vehicles-from-february-1-details-here-91530
Pons, P. T., & Markovchick, V. J. (2002). Eight minutes or less: Does the ambulance response time guideline impact trauma patient outcome? Journal of Emergency Medicine, 23(1), 43–48. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/11172715
Press Trust of India. (2023, October 3). With 1,360 cases, Mumbai reports spike in dengue infections in September. Deccan Herald. https://www.deccanherald.com/india/maharashtra/with-1360-cases-mumbai-reports-spike-in-dengue-infections-in-september-2711022
Road accidents on Indian National highways, ambulance reachability and transportation of injured to trauma facility: Survey-based introspection of golden hour. (2024). PubMed Central. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11006034/
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By:
- Shivesh Kaushik is Master’s student in MA Public Policy, Cities and Governance, 2nd year at Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Hyderabad.
- Prerna Sinha is Master’s student in MA Public Policy, Cities and Governance, 1st year at Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Hyderabad.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are strictly the author’s own and do not represent the views of the publisher.
