Rising e-rickshaw accidents trigger calls for stricter oversight

 Four-year-old Aarav Sharma accompanied his aunt to pick up his elder sister from school on February 3. Spotting his mother, he ran towards her. In a matter of seconds, an e-rickshaw struck him, knocking him to the ground.

“He did not stop there. He trampled him under the rickshaw. You can imagine how fast he must have been driving,” said Bharat Sharma, Aarav’s father. While Aarav’s mother, Janki, remains inconsolable, Mr. Sharma says the tragedy has also deeply affected their six-year-old daughter. The children attend a private school in Qutub Vihar Phase 1, Dwarka, located in a residential area where vehicle movement is generally slow. “There is no way an e-rickshaw should have been driving that fast in that lane,” Mr. Sharma said, demanding a complete ban on e-rickshaws.

According to data shared by Delhi Traffic Police, e-rickshaws were involved in the deaths of 16 pedestrians in 2025, double the number recorded in 2024. In about 76 accidents, 61 pedestrians were injured in 2025. During the year, 5,13,687 e-rickshaws were challaned and 3,311 were impounded.

Training camps

A senior traffic police official said training and sensitisation camps are regularly organised for e-rickshaw drivers. “We highlight traffic rules and safety precautions. We try to sensitise them about passenger safety, keeping to the left, staying in their lanes and avoiding driving on the wrong side,” the officer said. Yet, across the city, particularly outside metro stations, on arterial roads and in service lanes, e-rickshaws operate in loosely regulated clusters with their own informal systems. “In Delhi, at least 75% of e-rickshaws are unregistered. Those impounded are often sold as scrap, but drivers buy them back. Only those who can compete aggressively and deal with enforcement authorities manage to survive,” said Shivalal, an e-rickshaw driver in Palam Colony. 

Reckless driving

For Manish Parashar, an engineer with American Express in Gurugram, the issue is personal. Last year, he lost his eight-year-old daughter, Akshi Parashar, when the e-rickshaw she was travelling in overturned.

“My two daughters and wife usually take an auto to school, just 1.5 km away. That day, they took an e-rickshaw. There were six passengers besides the driver. Around 7:45 a.m., the driver was speeding recklessly and the vehicle overturned,” he said. Akshi suffered head injuries and was declared dead on arrival at the hospital. The driver initially fled but was later apprehended.

The accident occurred on the Jafrabad-Seelampur road, which carries signage ‘No entry for e-rickshaws- 24 hours’. “Despite that, they operate there,” Mr. Parashar said. He has filed a petition in the Delhi High Court seeking enforcement of the 2014 regulations governing e-rickshaws, including speed limits, battery specifications, passenger capacity and licensing norms. The PIL also calls for seizure of uninsured and unfit vehicles, curbs on indiscriminate registrations and proper vehicle identification.

Enforcement gaps

“There are existing guidelines, but they are not being implemented. Drivers are required to undergo ten-day training, and vehicles must have fitness certificates. Why are these rules not enforced?” he asked.

In January, the High Court directed the Delhi government to file a reply within six weeks detailing steps taken to regulate e-rickshaw operations. Advocate Naveen Bamel, representing Mr. Parashar, said the aim is to “ensure enforcement of safety standards and licensing norms”.

Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta recently said the government is working on a new e-rickshaw regulation policy, likely to include demarcated zones, speed restrictions and stricter registration and fitness enforcement.

Sarika Panda Bhatt, co-founder of Raahgiri, an organisation working on urban mobility, said “dependency on e-rickshaws for last-mile connectivity has grown due to gaps in public transport”. She stressed that infrastructure design near schools and residential areas must limit speeds to 25 km per hour, ensure proper signage and avoid high-speed corridors. “User behaviour changes when infrastructure is designed safely,” she added. 

Published – February 22, 2026 12:49 am IST