Punjab has among the densest road networks of any Indian state, with a metalled road to almost every village, which is a real achievement and dates largely from the 1970s and 1980s.
It also has among the highest road fatality rates per vehicle in India. The Grand Trunk Road corridor through the state is one of the deadliest stretches in the country.
The causes are the standard ones: mixed traffic of tractors, trolleys, motorcycles, buses and trucks at very different speeds on the same carriageway; alcohol; and almost no enforcement of anything.
Tractor trolleys are unregistered and unlit and carry people. Jugaad vehicles are unregistered entirely.
The four-laning and six-laning of the main highways has increased speeds without separating the local traffic, which is why the accident rate has not fallen with the road quality.
Punjab's trauma care outside the four large cities is thin, and the interval between a crash on a rural road and a hospital is often decisive.
Punjab's road density is among the highest in India and almost every village is connected by a metalled road, which is not true across most of the country.
The link roads were built through successive rural connectivity programmes and maintenance is the weak part. A road built once and never resurfaced is the standard condition.
Road deaths are high. The highways carry heavy freight, tractor trolleys, two wheelers and pedestrians on the same surface, with no separation and very little enforcement.