Beware traffic violators! Hefty fines from today as new motor vehicleact kicks in

New Delhi, Sep 01: Higher traffic penalties come into effect across the country from today under the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2019, which was cleared by parliament last month.

As many as 63 clauses of the newly amended Motor Vehicle Act 2019 has been implemented and motorists when caught violating traffic norms will have to cough up heftier penalties.

The new Act has substantially increased penalties for traffic violations such as drunk driving, driving without helmets. Common offences like use of mobiles, jumping traffic lights and driving on the wrong lane will be categorised as 'dangerous driving'.

Penalties for traffic violations had not been raised since 1988 when the fine for general offences such as red-light jumping was fixed at Rs 100.

The low amount hardly acted as a deterrent for errant drivers, who continued to flout traffic norms with impunity. Now, under the amended MV Act, violators have to pay Rs 1,000 for jumping red lights.

Meanwhile, if two-wheeler owners are caught riding without helmets, they will not only have to pay a fine of Rs 1,000 but could have their licences suspended for the next three months.

However, the new act replaces the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. A similar bill to amend the Motor Vehicles Act was cleared by the Lok Sabha in April 2017, but got stuck in the Rajya Sabha.

President Ram Nath Kovind had earlier this month approved the Bill, making way for the new law.

The amended Motor Vehicles Act also takes into account rules governing cab aggregators such as Uber and Ola. However, the regulations for cab aggregators mentioned in the Act and a few other measures will take a few months more to be implemented, according to transport ministry officials.