Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Act, 2019 About, Fines, Respit against accidents

on

MOTOR VEHICLE (AMENDMENT) ACT, 2019

India is one of the most accident prone country in the world. it accounts approximately 1,50,000 deaths per year which is nearly 10% of all motor vehicle related fatalities worldwide. 
To reduce this number or to increase road safety, the government of India has passed a bill known as Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Act, 2019 in July. This act came into effect from Sunday, September 1, 2019. 
This bill has tightened road traffic regulations such as
  • Issuance of Driving Licence.
  • Stricter penalties for violation of traffic rules.
The government is expecting that, these heavy penalties are likely to result in reduction in road accidents and improve compliance of traffic rules.  
Mr. Nitin Gatkari, minister of road transport and highways of India defended heavy fines for traffic violation. He said intention is not to impose heavy penalties on people but to bring road discipline for preventing lives through accidents. He also said that time should come that nobody has to pay such fines.

Fines for fine

Source:Google

  1. Riding without a helmet
    • Old : fine of ₹100 was levied for first offence and ₹300 for second offence.
    • New : fine of ₹1000 and suspension of licence for 3 months.
  2. More than one pillion rider
    • Old : ₹100 for first offence and ₹300 for second offence.
    • New : ₹1000 
  3. Drunken driving : the permissible limit for drunk driving is 30 mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood.
    • Old : 6 months in jail or fine of ₹2000; for second offense within 3 months, in jail up to 3 years or fine of ₹3000.
    • New : 6 months in jail or fine of ₹10,000 for first offence and for second offence 2 years in jail or fine of ₹15,000.
  4. Driving without Licence 
    • Old : fine of ₹500.
    • New : fine of ₹5000
  5. Speeding : 
    • Old : fine of ₹400 for first offence and ₹ 1000 for second offence.
    • New : fine of ₹1000 to ₹4000 for first offence and impounding of licence for second offence.
  6. Causing an accident 
    • Old : 3 months in jail or ₹500 fine for first offence and for second offence 6 months in jail or fine of ₹1000.
    • New : for first offence 6 months in jail or fine of ₹5000 and for second offence 1 year in jail or fine of ₹10,000.
  7. Not wearing seat belt
    • Old : fine of ₹100 to ₹300.
    • New : fine of ₹1000.
  8. Riding without Pollution Under Check (PUC) certificate
    • fine for not having updated PUC certificate has increased from ₹1000 to ₹10,000.
    • PUC certificate must be updated within 90 days and cost for PUC certificate depends upon vehicle and fuel it uses.
  9. Traffic violation 
    • ₹500 in place of ₹100 earlier.
  10. It proposes ₹10,000 fine for not giving way to emergency vehicles like ambulance.
  11. Guardian/owner will be considered guilty in case of road offence by juveniles. As per new provision, there will be a penalty of ₹25,000 with three years imprisonment and cancellation of registration of motor vehicle.
Driving Licence, PUC certificate, vehicle registration documents, Insurance papers, helmet and seat belt...The list of things to check before taking your vehicle out on the road.

How to save yourself from becoming a pray to traffic police?

  • It is mandatory to carry original vehicle documents, but carrying them in digital form are also valid as per the law. All you need to do is, download DigiLocker or  mParivahan and save all your documents in these applications. You can show these document when a traffic police officer asks the same.
  • For speeding, if traffic police officer is no in possession of a speedometer, he/she can not issue a challan for speeding.
  • Similarly, if traffic lights are not functioning and the traffic  is being managed manually then no challan can be issued for jumping the signal.

Respite to an accident victim

  1. The amended act gives the victims some respite of ₹5 lakh in case of death of a person in traffic accident and ₹2.5 lakh where there is "grievous hurt".
  2. For hit and run accident, compensation to be awarded has been raised to ₹2 lakh in case of death of victim and ₹50,000 when he/she suffers a grievous injury.
  3. Cashless treatment- during "Golden Hour", the period of first 60 minute from occurrence of an accident, when risk of fatality can be minimized to greatest extent.
  4. It mandates compulsory insurance of all road users, including pedestrian. who will be covered through motor vehicle accident fund.

Some more things, that need to be done-

  1. For providing complete justice to the victim, closure attention need to be paid to the formula used to calculate the quantum of compensation.
  2. Some problem are either remained unaddressed or are inadequately addressed by amended rule for instance-
    • Vehicle users who don't give passage to an emergency ambulance vehicle are liable to be punished with fines, such punitive measures are likely to remain ineffective in absence of an effective implementation mechanism.
    • Lack of infrastructure also need to be accounted.
    • Another problem highlighted by apex court for which act does not provide any remedy is that of procedural delays on part of tribunals in claims settlement.

People's Comments 

Some people said that 
  1. It will increase corruption. To curb corruption government is planning to install cameras at checking spot and it has also directed traffic police officers to wear cloth camera.
  2. It will increase road safety.
  3. It will discourage underage people from driving.
  4. Better enforcement and infrastructure are key to mitigate anger over higher road fines.

People's outrage 

for any angry reaction all traffic police officers have been asked to wear body cameras and use video recorder while issuing challans. Body camera will also keep corruption in check.

Reactions of states

States like West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab denied the implementation of this act.
In states like Karnataka, Uttrakhand and Kerala first, the state government will consult from all stakeholder then after taking their advice they will implement it.
Gujarat has reduced hefty traffic fines of ₹10,000 to ₹1000. Karnataka government has also directed to reduce fines after examining order passed by Gujarat government.
Quoting higher fines under Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Act, 2019 as "very harsh," West Bengal(WB) chief minister Mamata Banergee on Wednesday said. Her government will not implement it in Bengal. The government of WB is going for a 'safe drive save life' compaign. 

Important Links

  1. To download DigiLocker, click Here.
  2. To download mParivahan, click Here

 "DON'T VIOLATE DON'T PAY"

Please Follow and Subscribe for further updates. Share to your friends and Comment for any suggestion or advice.


Comments

Post a Comment