New Motor Vehicles Act Out- Drunk driving can now cost you Rs.10,000 fine and can land you in jail for violating the law.
The New Motor Vehicles Act which was approved by President Ram Nath Kovind last month comes into effect from September 1, 2019 that aims to implement harsher penalties for violating traffic rules.
What are the changes brought in effect under the new Motor Vehicles Act?
- Starting from September 1, 2019, if you are found driving after drinking/consuming alcohol and do not give way to ambulances or fire brigade will cost you 10,000 as fine and in some cases, it can also land you in jail.
- If you are found not wearing the seat belts, or jumping red lights, over-speeding, drunk and dangerous driving, driving without insurance and overloading vehicles, will also attract higher penalties.
- If you’re a two-wheeler owner and are caught riding without helmets, you’ll be required to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000 and your driving license could also be suspended for a term of three months.
- Under the new rules, a road contractor can also be penalized if he fails to maintain the standards of road design. In fact, the enforcement authorities will have to pay twice the penalty of any offense committed.
What is the objective behind the new rules and penalties?
The news rules under the Motor Vehicles Act not only aims to bring in more road safety but also keep away untrained people who have been obtating the driving license by bribing.
A major hike in the fines will reduce the scope of bribing and under the new rules the process of obtaining a driving license DL will be more harder to keep away untrained drivers from roads.
It is worth noting that the amendment in the act provides scope for increasing the fine amount by 10 percent annually. According to the authorities, higher fines, will not only help in increasing awareness but it would keep people aware of traffic rules, which were often broken under the previous set of rules.
