If you happen to drive two-wheelers or four-wheelers, then you ought to know the implications of the passage of the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill 2019 in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. 108 MPs voted in favour of the Bill while just 13 against it. The Bill has provisions of hefty fines for traffic violations.
According to the new provision, a penalty of Rs 10,000 will ve levied against the offender for not giving way to emergency vehicles and Rs 10,000 for driving despite having been disqualified. Taxi-aggregators such as Ola and Uber will be made to pay Rs 1 lakh for driving licence violations.
A person driving a Light Motor Vehicle Medium Passenger Vehicle will be fined between Rs 1,000 and Rs 2,000 if caught over-speeding. The penalty for drivers without insurance will now attract Rs 2,000 fine. Those driving without helmets will have to cough up a Rs 1,000 penalty and face three-month suspension of their licence. Under the earlier law, the penalty for driving two-wheelers without helmets was Rs 1,000 and Rs 100 respectively.
The government has also brought provisions to hold guardians/owners liable in the event that offence is committed by minor driving the vehicles. The penalty for such offence will be Rs 25,000 with three years of jail sentence.
The penalty for drunken driving has been increased to Rs 10,000 from Rs 2,000. Drivers committing traffic violations will now have a fine of Rs 500 as opposed to Rs 100 in the past. Disobedience of orders of traffic authorities will result in a penalty of Rs 2,000. The penalty for the same was Rs 500 earlier.
Penalty for unauthorised use of vehicles or without licence has been proposed at Rs 5,000 while those caught with dangerous driving will have to pay Rs 5,000.
The central government had sought recommendations from all transport ministers from various states. They received inputs from as many as 18 states, whose proposals were screened by a standing committee of Parliament.
The government has also incorporated online tests mandatory as part of the process to acquire a new driving licence. Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said that those seeking to acquire a driving licence, be it an MP or a minister, will have to pass the online test. Several developed countries such as the United Kingdom already have mandatory online tests for acquiring driving licences.