Motor vehicle law amendment: Know all fines on various traffic violations

If your son or daughter is caught violating traffic norms, you may have to pay a fine of Rs 25,000 and face arrest. Yes, you read that correctly. According to the new traffic rules, you are liable for your child's wrongdoings. The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday passed the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2019, with some riders. The bill is aimed at weeding out corruption, improving road safety and promote the use of more technology to regulate traffic. The legislation was passed by the Lok Sabha on July 23, but lapsed before it could get Rajya Sabha nod after the term of the 16th Lok Sabha ended. Now it will be sent to Lok Sabha again because of a typo. The bill proposes a National Transportation Policy for ushering in guidelines on the transportation of goods and passengers.

The legislation provides for stricter punishment for various traffic-related offences as well as higher penalties, including compensation of Rs 5 lakh for death and Rs 2.5 lakh for grievous injury in a motor vehicle accident case. 

It proposes Rs 10,000 fine for not giving way to emergency vehicles and Rs 10,000 for driving despite disqualification. Aggregators violating driving licences will be fined up to Rs 1 lakh. 

The bill includes penalties in the range of Rs 1,000- 2,000 for overspeeding.

Here's a list of penalties traffic rules violators may have to pay under Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill – 2019

Jumping traffic light, using mobile phone: Using hand-held phone or jumping traffic light would attract a penalty of Rs 5,000 and a jail term of up to one year.

Travel without a ticket: Under section 178 of the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, travelling without a ticket will cost you a fine of Rs 500.

Disobedience of orders of authorities: Under section 178 of the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, if you are caught disobeying orders of authorities, you will be fined Rs 2,000 (the old penalty was Rs 500)

Unauthorized use of vehicles without a licence: Under sector 180, those you make unauthorised use of vehicles without licence will have to pay a penalty of Rs 5,000.

Driving without licence will cost you Rs 5,000.

Driving despite disqualification will now cost violators Rs 10,000. Under the previous provision, violators were fined Rs 500.

Over speeding: According to government data, speeding was responsible for over 66% of road accidents in 2018. In order to prevent that, those who over speed will be fined Rs 1,000 for LMV and Rs 2,000 for Medium passenger vehicle (the previous penalty amounted to Rs 400).

Dangerous driving penalty: Similarly, driving dangerously will cost offenders up to Rs 5,000.

Drunken driving: Drink-driving may cost you a fine of up to Rs 10,000. 

Vehicle without permit: Penalty for use of a vehicle without permit has been proposed at Rs 10,000.

Overloading: Overloading of vehicles would attract a penalty of Rs 20,000 and Rs 2,000 per extra tonne. Meanwhile, overloading of passengers will attract a penalty of Rs 1,000 per extra passenger.

Seat belt: Wearing a seat belt is mandatory and if someone is caught violating the rule, they'll have to pay a fine of Rs 1,000.

Overloading of two-wheelers: This would attract a penalty of Rs 2,000. It could also lead to disqualification for three months for licence.

Helmets: Riders without helmet will have to pay a fine of Rs 1,000. Their licence may be disqualified for three months.

Some new provisions have also been proposed in the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2019. They are as follows:

Oversize vehicles: This is a new provision in the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill. Oversize vehicles will be fined Rs 5,000.

Aggregators (violations of licencing conditions): If aggregators are found violating licensing conditions, they will be charged a sum of up to Rs 1 lakh.

Not providing way for emergency vehicles: The new bill proposes Rs 10,000 fine for not giving way to emergency vehicles.

Offences by Juveniles: Guardian/owner shall be deemed to be guilty of offences by juveniles. The guardian will have to pay a fine of Rs 25,000  and may face three-year imprisonment. The juvenile will be tried under the Juvenile Justice Act. Registration of Motor Vehicle will be cancelled.

Why Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill – 2019 is crucial for a country like India

Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari admitted in the parliament that ministry of ttransport and highways had struggled to reduce the number of road accidents in the past five years. "It is sad that India is on top in the number of deaths due to road accidents," Gadkari said. "Even after making full efforts from my side, deaths have only come down by three to four per cent. I have failed in it, I accept it."

According to a report by the government, road accidents in India killed between 1.46 lakh and 1.5 lakh people every year between 2015 and 2017. Among vehicle categories involved in road accidents, two-wheelers accounted for the highest share (33.9%) in total accidents and fatalities (29.8%) in 2017. Light vehicles comprising cars, jeeps and taxis as a category constituted 24.5 per cent in total accidents and 21.1 per cent in total fatalities.