[blackwasp]

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has amended some of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules (CMVR) related to mobile phone usage while driving and vehicle documents.

Beginning October 1, 2020, mobile phones would only be allowed for the purpose of navigation. It is well known that the use of mobile phones while driving can distract the driver and can cause accidents.

The ministry has also facilitated the use of electronic documentation for driving licence, insurance and vehicle registration through apps like DigiLocker and m-parivahan. If valid electronic documents are presented, no physical copies will be necessary.

These rules come as a part of the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act 2019, which was passed in August last year.



Link to the Team-BHP News

[Eddy]

Can I still talk on my bluetooth connected phone?

Can I give voice commands to dial out?

[anandhsub]

How exactly is this going to be implemented?

Using a mobile phone to play music via the bluetooth is far less distracting than using navigation. Not quite sure how navigation can be allowed and not this.

[alikidwhy]

How will one put on music for their drives? Is that also not allowed anymore?

Would we be able to talk on calls over Bluetooth or not?

All these amendments are mere distractions and ways for the govt. to mint some more dough.

[yesyeswe]

Even talking using the bluetooth is not allowed, only using navigation is permitted.

[sridharj77]

Lawmakers should sit in stopped and slooooooww moving for a few days and then decide on such things

Also, all police personnel must be trained to accept e-documents in the apps as proof. Police recently refused to even acknowledge the Digilocker and M-parivahan apps as Govt apps (even though it is supposed to be accepted here in Telangana).

I remember a similar thread a few years ago on a similar topic, where GTO and others had suggested apps for the police (on laptops etc), where they could directly access the RTO data, by connecting all RTO databases in the country. Now **that** would have been awesome.

[RS90]

I only use my mobile phone for playing songs and bluetooth telephony. Keeping aside the legality of this rule, I think it would be pretty rare to single out a driver talking on phone via bluetooth.

Except the unlucky lad moving his lips while driving alone and not wearing a face mask.

[Spaced Out]

This is how ridiculous laws breed corruption.

I find touch screen A/C to be substantially more dangerous than using my car's inbuilt bluetooth mic to talk on my phone.

[RedTerrano]

Originally Posted by yesyeswe

Even talking using the bluetooth is not allowed, only using navigation is permitted.

Could you please share the source for this?

[xjosephjacob]

While it may sound that the lawmakers are stuck in 80's, all the in-vehicle activities that are not driving related result in distractions and have a proven negative impact on driving performance.

I drive to my native place on Friday's, which is 3 hours drive one way through narrow roads of kerala at moderate speeds averaging say 45kmph. I used to tell my wife that I'm never able to properly recollect that part of my journey which I spend talking to people over the bluetooth. Says a lot about how the auditory distractions impacts the overall drivers attention. I do drive slower when I talk over phone, however I think I'm unable to give the due attention to the task of driving.

My opinion is, more these distractions, more we end up depending on technology to aid us during the drive. Can we live without the tech ? Nope. Lawmakers should figure out a way that let's the drivers use these features judiciously.

[dark.knight]

I see that the government has yet again resorted to the give one, take two philosophy, the very same government who hires people with a dial-phone on a warped desk to create policies for a new age.

When I connect the phone, bluetooth, streaming and maps become active simultaneously.. and the first two are no more or no less distracting than having to look at the screen for map information. I can control the music shuffle and call options via the steering controls, same can't be said for maps.

I agree that any technology that distracts from the pure mechanical action of driving a car would create risk on the roads, however making policies with plenty of loopholes to penalize people is much worse, either allow total car connectivity or ban (remove) it at the production level and then penalize drivers for using a mobile phone in the hand when driving.

I suppose all the Swiggy, Dunzo and Zomato guys talking on phone, looking at maps, shoving packages into every crevice and acting like total boors on the road are all well and legal since it suits the purpose? Once again the middle class/educated gets the stick!! How do they intend to challan people for talking over car bluetooth? What if I'm singing to myself or talking to family members?

Also, and I'm taking the headline verbatim, what if I hold the phone with my hands when driving and look at maps and when the police pulls me over, would they still let me go once they know its maps?

[Turbohead]

Are you sure streaming music through the phone is going to be illegal? If it is so, how is the cop going to prove that we were streaming from the phone and not from the CD/USB/Radio?

I really wanna know who formulates laws, on what basis they create them and what they smoke while formulating them.

[Nalin1]

Forget phones!. Keep the phone at home and use only the radio while driving. Keep fiddling with the volume and channels. It is as distracting as using a phone .

Next rule will be to not engage in a conversation with co-passenger. Then some tweaking in the rules to accommodate the passengers behind .

The third row will create more controversy.

As usual another rule which opens the pandora's box.

[amritpal2489]

What are our lawmakers smoking these days?
Either its going to be really tough for the traffic policemen or we mango people in the implementation of this rule. It would have been better if they would have made headunit illegal as even listening to radio can be distracting

[Bibendum90949]

The motor vehicle law enforcement teams should check on the tyre tread depth of most public and private transport that plies with a devil-may-care attitude on our highways. By enforcing a change of such tyres with wafer thin treads itself would bring down the accidents caused by them which also results in loss of lives. And such accidents would outnumber the likely accidents that can be caused by drivers who're with their phones connected to the car's HU thereby making calls or listening to music. It could take 50 years by the bluetooth users to catch up with the number of accidents caused by such unfit vehicles and reckless drivers on the road in a year.

Having said that, making calls via BT or otherwise would surely diminish the driver's attention and focus on the road. But a mountain can't be made out of such moles.