Team-BHP - Cabinet approves New Motor Vehicle Bill with hefty fines

"The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Bill, 2016, providing for hefty penalties for violation of road safety rules.
The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi"

http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/cabin...rom=home-india

Quote:

Originally Posted by LionX (Post 4028208)

Increasing fine will solve only 10% problem I think. There should be provision for better mechanism of collection of fine. Collection of fine really prone to corruption which turns the law ineffective due to bribing at least in Maharashtra.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sushantr5 (Post 4028210)

I look at this in a different way. Earlier fine for xyz offence was 100 and police accepted bribe of 50 and let people go. That's 50% of actual fine. Now calculate the same for fine amount of 4000. Dont forget, even the police dude has a target given by senior for that day :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by akshay380 (Post 4028230)

I look at this in yet another way. This will make them revise the target. Rates for such posts now will increase too. ;)

I feel more than the law, enforcement and monitoring are the curses on our country. There is dearth of law here.

I for one see lot of positives from this bill amendment. Now only thing the govt has to do see is publicise the fines at major signals through bill boards. This will be a deterrent if the commuters sees this quite often. My only grouse is whether the traffic cops would be in numbers to collect the fines. At major traffic signals in Mumbai enroute my office, I see no traffic cops posted. This makes many commuters to break the signals. The cops should also install some dummy if not real CCTV cameras and make them very visible.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sathya_g_m (Post 4028257)

I look at this in yet another way. This will make them revise the target. Rates for such posts now will increase too. ;)
I feel more than the law, enforcement and monitoring is the key which is the curse on our country. There is of derth of law here.

By targets I mean actual collections that are shown in receipts and sent to state headquarters. :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by ghodlur (Post 4028271)

Regarding the dummy CCTVs I had actively pursued this with Bangalore Traffic police even offering to sponsor some. Sadly they didnt show any interest. :(

This is good news. Right now, the Rs.100/- fine for not wearing helmet, seat belt, etc is useless since people think even if they do get caught they can get off easily by paying that amount.

The fine is now Rs.1000/- for helmet and seat belt violations, so it should at least bring in that element of doubt if the mind of a violator and in my opinion, it will deter a substantial chunk of regular violators from doing their "normal" thing.

I have a new suggestion for enforcement, which has a lot less to do with fines and more to do with legal interpretation.

So let's say, you get stopped for riding without a helmet. You pay the fine, get receipt for it, and then what? You are allowed to continue riding. Show the next cop who stops you the fine paid receipt and he will just let you go.
Instead of this, what if we make the policeman who first stops you an accessory to the crime of "riding without helmet" if he just lets you ride on? In this case, you pay the fine, go get a helmet, and then you are allowed to ride the bike/scooter.

Simple, ya?

While the new motor vehicle bill is necessary, it should be based on evidence, else this will be used as a tool to harass people by the traffic police.
This should be implemented with the help of body cameras on Traffic police and CCTVs on all junctions.

Are these going into effect immediately?

Drunken driving had a court hearing and even an arrest possibility, has that all changed to just a Rs.10k fine? If so, I don't think this is a good move. It could mean that a drunken driver could get caught, pay 10k and continue driving to endanger themselves and others.

Think Bangalore already has slightly stringent laws. 300Rs fine for helmet , over speeding, court fine for Drunk Driving and a hefty target to reach for policeman which makes them provide receipt for 90% of the fines collected.

However this has certain drawbacks.

1. Police men instead of managing traffic run behind bikes, lorries etc to meet their targets thereby resulting in traffic jams.
2. Short staffing results in most people getting away with not paying anything ie The huge fine amounts doesnt translate to increased police men on the road.
3. The Collected Fine amount is never put to good use. No improvement in road infrastructure or traffic signal improvement or trying to enforce/educate public. Instead to meet targets, they encourage violations by hiding behind trees , blind corners etc to catch and fine.
4. Seeing these folks standing causes people to go in wrong way causing more jams/unsafe driving.

While driving without helmet has a disqualification clause, there's nothing beyond fine for drunken driving? This should have been made more stringent, immediate disqualification/suspension of license or even a short prison term. One of the biggest reasons for accidents.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sushantr5 (Post 4028210)

agree:

Here in Hyderabad (Telangana I mean), the Traffic police doesn't come to the violator to ask him/her to pay the fine rather shoot a picture of vehicle + violating rule and post it on their website. Along with this, one gets a challan copy sent to the registered address. Having received it one needs to either pay online or go to e-Seva. In case the picture is wrong or a wrong challan is given to anyone, one can take it directly and solve in case there is proof.

No need to bribe the police or try finding any loopholes.

Such system may be implemented elsewhere but I feel it must be applied nationwide to avoid this bribery!