Finally, the most awaited and the most talked-about- Motor Vehicle Bill has been passed in the parliament. On Wednesday, July 31st 2019, the Rajya Sabha passed the new Motor Vehicle Bill with the proposed amendments in the Motor Vehicle Act 1988. The bill was earlier passed in the Lok Sabha in 2017 but couldn’t make it through Rajya Sabha’s session and ultimately lapsed with the 16th Rajya Sabha. The amendments in the Motor Vehicle Act had to be made to make the Indian roads a safer place.
Must read: What was expected from the proposed amendments?
What is the Motor Vehicle Bill about?
The amendments in the bill are aimed at implementing higher penalties for traffic rule violations. This has been done to ensure that people start taking the roads and their rules more seriously.
Here are the highlights of the latest amendment in the motor vehicles bill:
- Increase in traffic violation penalties: The traffic violation penalties have been increased exponentially with the amendments in the motor vehicle bill, also, many new traffic violations have been added and fines for them have been decided. Also, now you can check and pay your challan online on the e-challan’s portal. Below is the updated fine list-
Section Provision Old Penalty
New Penalty 181 Driving without a license Rs.500 Rs.5000 182 Driving despite disqualification Rs.500 Rs.10000 183 Overspeeding Rs. 400 Rs.1000 (LMV)
Rs. 2000 (MPV)184 Dangerous Driving Rs. 1000 Rs. 5000 185 Drunken Driving Rs. 2000 Rs. 10000 194A Overloading N/A Rs.1000 per extra passenger 194B No Seatbelt Rs. 100 Rs. 1000 194C Overloading 2-wheeler Rs. 100 Rs. 2000, license disqualification for 3 months 194D No Helmet Rs. 100 Rs. 1000, license disqualification for 3 months 194E Not providing a way to emergency vehicles
N/A Rs. 10000 196 Driving without insurance Rs. 1000 Rs. 2000 199 Offences by Juveniles N/A Guardian deemed guilty- Rs. 25000 fine with 3 years imprisonment.Cancellation of vehicle registration & trial of the juvenile under JJ act 210B Offences committed by enforcing agencies
N/A Double of applicable penalty
- Making Golden Hour treatment accessible along with protection of samaritans: The new amendment in the motor vehicle act guarantees that a person who provides medical or non-medical assistance to a victim will be safeguarded from any kind of questioning from any authorities. Also, the person will remain anonymous and the victim will be given a cashless treatment in the golden hour too.
- Third-Party Insurance: The amendments in the motor vehicle bill ensure that the claim amount for a third-party policy will be increased upto 10 times. The current claim amount is Rs. 50000. This will be revised to Rs. 5Lakh along with a simplified insurance claim process. Also, the compensation for hit and run cases has been increased to Rs 2Lakh from the previous Rs 25000.
- Fund for the Accident Victims: The government aims to form a motor vehicle accident fund which would insure all road users in India. Under this scheme, all the road accident victims would be given a cashless treatment in the golden hour, compensations of the person injured in hit and run case and the compensation for the representative of a person killed in a hit-and-run case.
- E-license: The new proposal indicates making Aadhar Card as mandatory ID proof in the license issuing process so as to avoid fake or duplicate license issuing. Also, the driving tests would now be computerised and an “online” learner’s license would be issued. Along with all these, divyangs will be able to obtain a driver’s license more easily avoiding all the bottlenecks and necessary alterations in the vehicles would be allowed to make driving favourable for them.
- Recalling of vehicle units: The motor vehicle bill empowers the government to instruct a manufacturer to recall all the units of a vehicle that may possibly be harming the environment or proves to be a threat for the driver, passenger or other road users. The manufacturer will then have to replace the vehicle with one with similar specifications or completely reimburse the customers. Further, if the vehicle from a certain manufacturer fails to follow the mandatory norms, a fine of Rs. 100Cr will be charged from them along with the imprisonment of the executives upto 1 year.
- Road Safety Board: The new amendment in the motor vehicles act has proposed the formation of a road safety board which would advise the central and the state government on all road safety aspects along with the promotion of new technology which would be an added responsibility of the road safety board itself.
So with the advent of new rules and regulations in the motor vehicle bill, the government expects all Indian citizens to be more serious about following the rules and regulations when they are on the roads.
It is a combined effort that all of us need to be more responsible on the roads as now violations will not only put your lives at stake but would also affect your pockets severely.
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