India’s most dangerous driving time revealed in report! It’s not rush hour

If you’re planning a long trip, the time of day may be more important than you think. A new road safety study found that the time between 9 PM and 10 PM is the most dangerous time on Indian roads, while driving between 1 PM and 2 PM appears to be the safest. The findings are from the India Road Safety Report (IRSR) 2026 released by Zuno General Insurance.The report analyzed more than 4.5 million trips, more than 55 million kilometers of driving data and information from more than 27,000 active users of the Zuno SmartDrive app spread across 17 states.

Other key findings from the report:

According to the study, driving behavior remains stable for most of the day but starts to deteriorate after 8 PM. The average driving score drops to 86 between 9 PM and 10 PM, making it the most dangerous time for motorists. In comparison, drivers recorded an average score of 93 between 1 PM and 2 PM, the highest of all time slots analyzed.The report also challenges some common assumptions about driving habits. Women and men recorded almost identical driving scores, with women scoring 92.86 and men 92.43. The findings suggest that driving behaviour, rather than demographic factors, offer a clearer picture of road risk.Researchers have identified sudden braking and sudden acceleration as the weakest aspects of Indian motorists’ driving behavior. Sudden braking received an average score of 87, while heavy acceleration scored 91. These habits are often associated with unsafe maneuvers and increase the likelihood of accidents.Interestingly, weather changes have little effect on driving patterns. Average driving scores remained constant throughout summer, monsoon and winter, indicating that driver behavior plays a greater role in road safety than weather conditions.The report also highlights a larger concern. According to findings, behavioral factors contribute to more than 80 percent of road accidents in India. These include issues such as speeding, distracted driving and unsafe road practices. Road safety continues to be a major challenge for the country. India records about 1.73 lakh road deaths every year, which accounts for nearly 11 percent of global deaths. The economic impact is also significant, with road accidents estimated to cost between 3 percent and 5 percent of the country’s GDP. Almost two-thirds of the deaths involved people aged between 18 and 45 years.The report also noted that vulnerable road users remain the most affected. Two-wheeler riders account for 44 percent of all road deaths in India, while pedestrians account for nearly 19 percent of deaths.