After Gujarat, now Karnataka slashes traffic violation fines under new MV Act

Bengaluru, Sep 11: Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Wednesday directed the Transport Department to 'immediately' slash fines for traffic offences, following the footsteps of the BJP-ruled Gujarat. Karnataka's move comes amid rising concerns over hefty fines for traffic violations.

Earlier on Tuesday, Gujarat became the first BJP-ruled state to reduce traffic fines, with chief minister Vijay Rupani saying that the "base rate for the fines will be lower than the one proposed by the union government" and the revised fines will be implemented from Monday.

During a review meeting, Yediyurappa asked the Transport department to look into what Gujarat had done on reducing the fine amounts. "Citizens are facing inconvenience due to the hefty fine amounts," Yediyurappa told officials.

Citizens have been frowning upon the hefty fines, with some arguing that the government should provide good road infrastructure first.

The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019, that came into effect from 9 August seeks to improve road safety and discipline by imposing hefty penalties for violation of traffic rules. According to the law, there will also be a 10% increase in the penalty every year. Karnataka notified the new fines on September 3.

The new penalty for driving without licence has been increased 10 times to ₹5,000, while penalty for drunk driving has been increased five times to ₹10,000. Not giving way to emergency service vehicles will attract as much ₹10,000 penalty. Besides, fines have been increased manifold for breaking other traffic related rules such as driving without insurance-related documents, helmets, seatbelts, carrying more passengers than the vehicle's capacity, among others. These fines came into effect 1 September.