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