[creative420]

Originally Posted by anand.shankar

How about adding the below point along with this law ?

* Imprisonment and dismissal from service if a cop is caught accepting bribe ?

That will be a serious deterrent for future candidates. Imagine being accused of taking bribe when you haven't. People may do such a thing to avoid paying penalty. Book them under offence, then have their influential bhais and bureaucrats back them up. Slim chance. But it can still happen.

Thing is, I believe these guys are severely underpaid. If they get good money, for such a high-risk job, health and threat wise, maybe we might see a big change. Or maybe they can introduce an incentive scheme where these cops get 10% of fine collected as bonus. There are pros and cons to a thing like that, but you never know, if monitored properly with the help of technology, it may just help in turning bad apples into good ones.

However, at the end of the day, I believe, even if there are 2 good law-abiding cops out of 10, we will see a huge change in traffic sense. The game of probability kicks in and then who would want to take a chance with that.

Just being hopeful there 🙂

[kotirajendra]

What we need is plain simple civic sense. If a society needs to be coerced into good behaviour then it will never work. Fines are good as a deterrent for the few rowdy elements and not as a way to control a large majority. In pune atleast I do not see any civic sense. Education hasn't helped, it's just the small differences in degrees of indiscipline.

[drmohitg]

Great step although it left me wanting more. Rs. 100 as fine amount was a big joke. Rs. 500 as standard fine amount as proposed is still a joke though. They should have made the standard fine rate as Rs. 2000 or more. Unless you start hurting where it hurts, there isn't going to be any difference on the roads.

And also for things like drunken driving, I feel they should continue with the imprisonment rule. In a society where your "perceived image and baap ka naam" are still big things, a night in Jail can act as a serious deterrent.

The biggest drawback here for me is the speeding ticket. I don't have anything against the rule as such but we have all discussed many times how the speed limits on our roads need to be relaxed. And moreover the Cops are only interested in making a quick buck with this rule and not catch the real culprits by standing at the end of a flyover where due to the downhill effect, most cars end up going above the permissible limit. With a Rs. 5000 fin, its early Diwali for these cops.

[shravan2k2]

Even though they increased fines by 5 and 10 times. But, those officers implementing, are one of those finest in India that they would be bribed by the motorists in broad day light by giving 500 for a 2000 rs fine. More corruption is bound to happen.

[tsk1979]

Many welcome this move, but I don't. Even with current fines I see selective enforcement. Are you a bus? Park anywhere. Are you a car? I will tow you.

Are you Haryana roadways? Go 40kmph above limit.
Are you a car driver? 1kmph above limit = overspeeding fine

In all walks of life, there is a very selective enforcement, with the police targeting soft targets. If you can form a union, have power of numbers, or money you go scot free.

This law just gives the police more power over the soft targets.

[INNOVATOR]

This law is a classic example of the diverse messaging our government ends up giving to the people at large
On the one hand Modi, Jaitley and Co. keep harping on the need to move away from cash transactions. On the other hand, we end up with a law that expects you to carry hefty amounts in cash lest you should be on the wrong end of the law - just to be compliant with it!!! ... are you listening Mr. Gadkari???

IMHO every cop should be provided with cashless devices (such as credit card POS machine or some mechanism to pay online). This will serve as a disincentive for bribes that are rampant.

It should not be such a technological challenge to come up with a solution that allows electronic payment of fines. Good old challan / ticket is another option, but this would open up a high cost collection business on the side.

A simple mobile based solution for fine payment is also good enough IMO.

[laluks]

The fines, if they were a deterrent, by now the road would have been a saner place. I guess heavy fines, means more corruption at the enforcers hands ie. the traffic cops.

[NaveenKBorra]

I feel increasing the fines will not solve the situation or change the mindsets. instead of increasing the fines, put them in prison. something like 1 day for not wearing helmet or seat belt and increase the number days based on offense. It is still easy for many to pay 1000 bucks and forget the incident and repeat the same offense. If you put them in prison at least they will ashamed of society and be careful next time.

P.S Just my thought. this might have its own drawbacks

[hserus]

There is something known as proportionality that this would violate, a general principle that if you sentence someone to X amount of time in prison, that should match the severity of the crime.

The other thing is only a judge can sentence someone to imprisonment, so if you want this to happen, where jail sentences are handed out instead of traffic fines - expect the already overloaded criminal justice system to more or less collapse under its own case load.

Originally Posted by NaveenKBorra

I feel increasing the fines will not solve the situation or change the mindsets. instead of increasing the fines, put them in prison. something like 1 day for not wearing helmet or seat belt and increase the number days based on offense. It is still easy for many to pay 1000 bucks and forget the incident and repeat the same offense. If you put them in prison at least they will ashamed of society and be careful next time.

P.S Just my thought. this might have its own drawbacks

[NaveenKBorra]

Originally Posted by INNOVATOR

It should not be such a technological challenge to come up with a solution that allows electronic payment of fines. Good old challan / ticket is another option, but this would open up a high cost collection business on the side.

A simple mobile based solution for fine payment is also good enough IMO.

Excellent Idea. one solution I could think of is, make it mandatory to carry your AADHAR card. Impose fine on your card. Stop all activities for that person like, registrations(vehicle or home) or Loan processing etc.. until the fine is paid

[kaushik_s]

I liked the "new" ones that have been added. Yes, other increases are there too but these few new ones are surely a welcome move.
The best one is Not giving way to Emergency Vehicles. Hope to see the mindless crowd now giving way to ambulances. It's frustrating to see people not caring to give way to Ambulances.
Juvenile law is also a good one. This surely will make many parents think twice before blindly giving powerful bikes to their under-aged kids.

[drmohitg]

Originally Posted by NaveenKBorra

I feel increasing the fines will not solve the situation or change the mindsets. instead of increasing the fines, put them in prison. something like 1 day for not wearing helmet or seat belt and increase the number days based on offense.

Buddy don't jump the gun. First we do not have the luxury of vacant prisons. The ones we have are already running beyond their capacity. Second you want to tell me you have never broken a traffic law like parking in wrong spot, taking a wrong turn, speeding over prescribed speed limit and so on. So you want to land up in Jail next time you do any of those, even by mistake.

[Scaryskodamenon]

I am of the opinion that the new rules would bring in some positive change to road safety in our country. I believe more the fine, better it would be. If not for one's safety, but for the fear of losing money, people will become more responsible.
How about providing all the highway police vehicles with a dashboard camera with a directive that all the procedures including fine collections should take place in front of the same. I agree that our smart police officers will still find some way to circumvent this set up, but I sincerely hope this might act as a deterrent to many officers.

[VeluM]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

In all walks of life, there is a very selective enforcement, with the police targeting soft targets.

I couldn't agree more. The previous fines were good enough, the enforcement is the actual problem - selective or lacking as it is and will certainly continue to be.

[EPMV]

Originally Posted by dZired

Here is the detailed list of fines proposed under the New Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Bill - 2016.

Happy to see the new ones. Atleast now they added the rule for emergency services. But I couldn't understand the drivers idea of driving faster in front of ambulance for giving way. And following ambulance to clear their path.

Another confusion is how do you really catch these drivers. They may argue with police that I'm trying to give way but traffic didn't allow.