[embee]

There should be strict laws and heavy penalties to prevent rash and negligent driving in the country. Also, the government should launch aggressive road safety campaigns to educate people about traffic rules and regulation.

If people abide by traffic rules and ensure other safety measures, like using seat belts, wearing proper helmets and limiting their speed, there are good enough reasons that the accident rate in the country will go down and precious lives will not be lost in road accidents.

I am also of the view that wearing seat belts on the back seat should be made compulsory especially when travelling with children. It will play a major role as there are several occasions when during an accident, the person sitting at the back takes more impact than the ones sitting in the front.

It is also important to find some strict and harsh penalties for people who drive after consumption of alcohol or drugs.

In the end, even if the traffic laws in country are strict enough to control accidents; but along with the laws and rules, it is necessary for us to follow and obey these rules. It is true that the penalties taken for breaking laws are less and easily affordable so the need for higher and stricter penalties is a matter of the utmost importance...!!!

[joe_antony]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

In a country where traffic cops blatantly block traffic flow for hours while openly taking bribes from trucks and other heavy vehicles, how do you expect to implement this? And what is stopping from a person from continuing to drive even without a valid DL i.e. once it is cancelled for a year. To me this sounds like another far fetched fairy tale idea which has no relation to the ground realities at present.

The government and cops make so much noise about drunken driving. If they are all so serious then why not deploy a team in front of the exit of a Pub/club. 90% of the people exiting such establishments in there cars will be found with higher than permissible alcohol levels in there blood. Fine them heavily that they remember it for atleast a year. And keep changing the place of such surprise checks.

In a country where you can get a new DL for 1000 bucks without visiting the RTO, these rules are a mockery.

[ajay4060]

Refer to the article published in The Hindu
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper...cle6362022.ece
Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee is thinking of issuing additional ID Proof to establish their Identity.
I think one day Indians will have more ID cards than the money in their Bank Account.
Another method is to look for their religious 'kadhas'. So definitely Acche Din for "Kadhas" Manufacturers.

Originally Posted by binand

"Delhi traffic police on Friday started prosecuting woman pillion riders except Sikh woman who were found plying without helmets on the streets of the city"

I might be a bit naive here; but how do they propose to identify Sikh women?

[ashokabs]

I agree where the cases are complicated. In the case of traffic violations it is black and white. Either you were guilty of not stopping at a red light or you were not. It cannot be little guilty or more guilty. There can be a difference in penalty between a once off offender and a habitual offender.

[kingofmyworld]

Great move but this also gives the cops to mint more money by just saying that some one is racing even when they are not. They need be equipped with a video camera or something to prove that some one is racing before they fine the person.

I'm saying this out of experience. We were stopped multiple times and accused of racing and were also taken to the police station for that. Only because we were riding higher capacity bikes with full riding gear. The cop's point was " why would you wear gear if you dont intend to go fast? "

[theMAG]

By way of prioritizing and exhibiting the true spirit of this law, I would like this law to have additional focus on ricks and cabs.

[mayuresh]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/i...w/42401097.cms

If you jump a traffic light, drive on the wrong side of the road, refuse to snap on the seat belt or obstruct emergency vehicles, you may soon have to cough up a fine of Rs 5,000. And if you repeat these offences, the penalty could climb to Rs 10,000 and even Rs 15,000, your licence could be suspended and you may be packed off to a refresher driving course.

As was first reported in TOI, the draft Road Transport and Safety Bill, which seeks to tame traffic violators and habitual offenders, has proposed manifold jump in fines and jail term.

[SS-Traveller]

The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) has put up the Draft Road Transport and Safety Bill for viewing, and invites suggestions and comments from the general public and concerned parties. The same can be accessed at this link: http://morth.nic.in/index2.asp?slid=...kid=932&lang=1.

[ajaypjayaraj]

Fines are supposed to discourage people from committing that crime again. Name sake fines are of no use. Heavy fines would do its purpose. Only thing is the system should do this effectively and without taking advantage of the rule for troubling innocent motorists. If executed religiously, this is a much required amendment. Hope it gets things back on track to some extent atleast. There is a hell lot of scope for improvement in our traffic condition.

[anilp]

Great initiative. Anti corruption/vigilance should also ramp up their activities to ensure that cops don't use these to extort high bribes from road users.

[zenren]

I just hope this wouldn't become a big bargaining chip for the traffic constables to demand high bribes threatening the drivers to be slapped on with hefty fines if they don't pay up.

I'm not against erratic drivers being fined high amounts or licenses being cancelled, but the unscientific way in which some of the signal systems are designed means that there is no way for a driver to escape some violations.

For example, there are signals that turn from green to red in a matter of a couple of seconds or so at junctions where it take more than 10 seconds to cross, which the police use to meet their monthly targets. One such instance used to be there a few months back in Trivandrum. Even if you start crossing the junction while it is green, you would end up completing the crossing after it has turned red. Along with these exorbitant fines, even the civic authorities and the traffic police should be held accountable for any unscientific road construction or signalling to ensure the real culprits are caught.

[latentpotential]

Originally Posted by anilp

Great initiative. Anti corruption/vigilance should also ramp up their activities to ensure that cops don't use these to extort high bribes from road users.

Originally Posted by ajaypjayaraj

Fines are supposed to discourage people from committing that crime again. Name sake fines are of no use. Heavy fines would do its purpose. Only thing is the system should do this effectively and without taking advantage of the rule for troubling innocent motorists. If executed religiously, this is a much required amendment. Hope it gets things back on track to some extent atleast. There is a hell lot of scope for improvement in our traffic condition.

While this is indeed a good initiative, it WILL be a means of harassment and extortion for the one-odd uniformed goon, as well as get used to settle scores, especially in rural areas. One way to ensure transparency in my opinion can be cameras for speed and traffic signals and computerization which needs the cop to make an entry as soon as someone is pulled over. Also the cars and bikes of the uniformed person should be equipped with cameras and recorders, and a mini PC of sorts which connects them to a central database.

Let the fine payment happen in a period of 30 days as well instead of on the spot. There should be NO fine that these guys are authorized to collect. Corruption checking will be very easy and straightforward this way.

This is not new or rocket science, this is how the rest of the world does it, its just different, scary and draconian some may say for the lenient habituated population of ours.

[kailashnj]

This could be the worst bill that can be passed for harassing the Indian public. Even with such low fine rates, our RTO manages to harass the public, with such high fines, its only going to help them get richer fast. This should not be implemented before the corruption in the system is weeded out or else it will turn into a money making racket for the uniform goon, (90% of them)

[sureshurs]

I have my doubts about the effective implementation of the bill. There is always a risk of the cops demanding higher bribes but far less than the fine amount and the erring motorist will pay so as to reduce his personal loss.

I would have preferred social service terms rather monetary fines. For example, for violating a traffic signal, the motorist should help the cops as a traffic warden for 1-2 hours.

[dark.knight]

My 2 cents on the matter is that, yes I agree with all the above posts saying that such multitudinous rise in traffic violation penalty will give too much leverage for the cops. As it is the Indian Law system is quite archaic and has been left so for several decades, this is not the right way to play "catch up" and in my view the proposed penalties are nothing short of scary.

Yes as much as 50% of the motorists break rules, they aren't even aware of many rules such as speed limits, stopping before a zebra crossing, slowing down/stopping when the yellow has been on for 2-3 seconds. Many brazenly flout rules like going ahead normally in red signal, coming down the wrong way of a one way and sudden lane changes. Over-speeding is done mainly by the "public" buses, transport lorries & cabs. Public buses care 2 hoots for lane discipline and signals because they are part of the bonhomie bretheren i.e the government. Cabs are the same, I've seen them dodge the cops because then they are no longer responsible, the ticket gets sent to the company.

The other 50% (or 40%) are actually obedient to law. I'm speaking for them when I say where does India possess detailed signboards clearly mentioning speed limit/zebra cross stopping? Because the flow of traffic in the choked roads of cities are so slow during green signals that one might end up stuck between the crossing because of signal change. Will such people also be penalised a few thousand rupees? Also the yellow light duration varies (manual signals have none), what does one do when they are caught unaware? The only way to beat this loophole is to calculate the last few seconds of green and stop well before the yellow.

Also its important for the cops to realise that traffic violations will continue to happen as it does world over. A 100 fold hike in penalty does not mean the gravity of the violation is also 100 fold. I'm all for drunk-driving checks and enforcing seatbelt and helmets but Draconian laws will never ever work. I've only gotten a parking violation ticket so far and it was in a calm residential area where there was no 'No Parking' signboard. This is the problem in India, without proper signage I consider every ticket a watch-&-bait tactic of our ever greedy cops.