Motor Vehicle Amendment Bill Passed in Lok Sabha; Heavy Penalties on Traffic Rule Violators

Apr 19, 2018
Motor Vehicle Amendment Bill Passed in Lok Sabha; Heavy Penalties on Traffic Rule Violators

Finally some relief for those who believe in a coherent traffic system and were looking for stiffer traffic rules to punish the violators. The Motor Vehicle Amendment Bill that was proposed in the Lok Sabha in 2016 has been passed by the lower house. The central government has brought radical reformative changes in the existing MV bill to put a strict vigilance on the traffic violators. Heavy penalties have been imposed on those who do not obey the traffic rules and new changes have been inculcated to eradicate corruption in this sector.

Completely focusing on the importance of e-governance, the Road Transport and Highways Minister, Nitin Gadkari said, "No bogus driving licenses would be made and there would be no theft of the vehicles once there is e-governance."

Kids and mom Crossing Road

The 1988 Motor Vehicle Act has witnessed some major changes related to regulation of taxi aggregators, third party insurance and road safety. The main idea behind the amendment is to ensure road safety on Indian roads and to reduce fatalities and accidents by up to 50% in the next 5 years.

According to the reports, in India, every year nearly 5 lakh road accidents take place in which around 1.5 lakh people succumb to their injuries. The bill is currently in the upper house, Rajya Sabha, and once getting an approval from there, the bill will reach to the Hon'ble President, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, for the final approval.

Let's take a look at the modifications made in the MV act:

motor-vehicle-amendment-bill-passed-in-lok-sabha

Increase in Penalties – Now, you can't run away by paying a small denomination currency to the traffic police as the government has now imposed stricter penalties on the traffic rule violators. Have a look at some of the major highlights:

  • Driving without license would now invite a fine of Rs. 5,000 than Rs. 500.
  • In case of drink and drive, the penalty has now increased to Rs. 10,000 from Rs. 2,000.
  • Riding without helmet will fine you with Rs. 1,000, which earlier was Rs. 100. Also, the license would be forfeited for 3 months.
  • Violation of licensing conditions would call for heavy penalty for the cab aggregators.
  • Obstructing the way of emergency vehicles would impose a fine of Rs. 10,000.
  • Juveniles involved in traffic violation would be tried under JJ Act whereas their guardians/parents would face the legal actions, resulting to jail in some of the cases.
  • The liability of the third party insurer for motor accidents has been increased to Rs. 10 lakh in case of death and to Rs. 5 lakh in case of serious injury.
  • Compulsory insurance cover under the Motor Vehicle Accident Fund to all the road users for motor accidents of various types.
  • Protection of Good Samaritans helping the road accidents victims from the criminal or civil actions.

No to Temporary Registration

motor-vehicle-amendment-bill-passed-in-lok-sabha

In the new MV Bill, the car dealers won't be allowed to provide temporary registration. The complete process will be available online and people will get automatically generated registration numbers, hence putting an end to the choice of getting a particular number for your car, unless you follow the legal procedure to have it.

Learning License & DL Validity Online

The current central government is targeting to bring everything online, be it money transactions or e-governance. The recent Bill is exemplifying the same. Now there would be no need to go to the RTO office to get an LL or renew your DL. Every process will go online and the applicant will get the result within 3 days, failing to which actions will be taken against the RTO.

Sarathi & Vahan

No Sanskrit script it is, but the name of the new platforms proposed by the central government in the MV Act 2016. These platforms will work towards the uniformity of the processes online, bringing nationwide similarity for obtaining license and vehicle registration number.

Juvenile Driving Cases

motor-vehicle-amendment-bill-passed-in-lok-sabha

In case of underage driving, the guardian/parent of the juvenile will be hold guilty of the act and would get punished accordingly. At the same time, the juvenile will be tried under the Juvenile Justice Act. This will also cancel the registration number of the vehicle in question.

Privilege for Differently-abled

The new act removes the bottlenecks for getting vehicle registration number and driving license for differently-abled people.

Penalties to Get Stricter

Under the new Motor vehicle Act 2016, the penalties to be imposed on the traffic offenders would now be heavier and will multiply with repetition. The government will specify the multiplier which would not be less than 1 and greater than 10 on each type of fine. So, to be precise, the fine will vary from state to state. The bill will also cover fine on oversized vehicles.

Hit & Run Cases

motor-vehicle-amendment-bill-passed-in-lok-sabha

The victims will now be entitled to get a sum of Rs. 2 lakh instead of Rs. 25,000. It also covers a compensation of up to Rs. 10 lakh in case of road accident injuries.

Commercial Vehicles and Drivers

The new bill proposes a more strengthened commercial driver training process that will be quicker and smoother as compared to the current one. Also, the government has put focus on the condition and fitness of the commercial transport vehicle. Violators will face heavy penalties.

Refined List of Imposed Penalties

Section   Old Provision / Penalty New Proposed Provision / Minimum Penalties
177 General Rs 100 Rs 500
New 177A Rules of road regulation violation Rs 100 Rs 500
178 Travel without ticket RS 200 RS 500
179 Disobedience of orders of authorities Rs 500 Rs 2000
180 Unauthorised use of vehicles without license Rs 1000 Rs 5000
181 Driving without license Rs 500 Rs 5000
182 Driving despite disqualification Rs 500 Rs 10,000
182 B Oversize vehicles New Rs 5000
183 Overspeeding Rs 400 Rs 1000 for LMV
Rs 2000 for Medium passenger vehicle
184 Dangerous driving penalty Rs 1000 Upto Rs 5000
185 Drunken driving Rs 2000 Rs 10,000
189 Speeding / Racing Rs 500 Rs 5,000
192 A Vehicle without permit upto Rs 5000 Upto Rs 10,000
193 Aggregators (violation of licensing conditions) New Rs 25,000 to Rs 1,00,000
194 Overloading Rs 2000 and
Rs 1000 per extra ton
Rs 20,000 and
Rs 2000 per extra tonne
194 A Overloading of passengers   Rs 1000 per extra passenger
194 B Seat belt Rs 100 Rs 1000
194 C Overloading of two wheelers Rs 100 Rs 2000, Disqualification for 3 months for licence (3 months disqualification for licence)
194 D Helmets Rs 100 Rs 1000 Disqualification for 3 months for licence (3 months disqualification for licence)
194 E Not providing way for emergency vehicles (Not giving way to emergency vehicles) New Rs 10,000
196 Driving Without Insurance RS 1000 RS 2000
199 Offences by Juveniles New Guardian / owner shall be deemed to be guilty. Rs 25,000 with 3 yrs imprisonment. Juvenile to be tried under JJ Act. Registration of Motor Vehicle to be cancelled
206 Power of Officers to impound documents   Suspension of driving licenses u/s 183, 184, 185, 189, 190, 194C, 194D, 194E
210B Offences committed by enforcing authorities   Twice the penalty under the relevant section

Source: Cardekho

motor-vehicle-amendment-bill-passed-in-lok-sabha

Apart from the above rules and regulations, here are the cases when the traffic police hold the right to suspend/cancel your driving license under such offences:

  • Exceeding the road's speed limit
  • Dangerous or unsafe driving causing threat to other's lives
  • Drink and drive
  • Treating public roads as racing track
  • Triple riding
  • Riding on a two-wheeler without helmet
  • Obstructing the way of emergency vehicles such as ambulance
  • Driving heavily modified cars or motorbike
  • Jumping the red light
  • Driving without seat belt

It seems like the current central government is adopting every step to make the journey on roads safe and smooth. What's your pick on it? Share your view and feedback in the comment section below.

 
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