manoj

GET READY for a steep hike in fines for traffic offences. The Delhi government on Thursday(1Mar'07) informed the Delhi High Court that it will issue a notification in this regard within ten days.

The government made the submission while the court was hearing a public interest litigation seeking its intervention to curb road accidents. The government move to hike traffic fines follows a recommendation from the court-appointed committee, headed by Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium.

On approval, the new lane system is to be introduced on the Ambedkar Nagar-Moolchand route first. According to the proposal, the width of a road would have to be increased to 35 metres to provide for separate lanes for buses and cars.

In the light of the court's previous observation that bus drivers need to be educationally qualified, the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) today contended that it would not be possible to recruit the required number of drivers, if the academic criteria for job consideration is increased to 10+2. On February 24, the Bench had expressed the need to have reasonably qualified persons in the driver's seat to understand the "science and art of good driving". The court had observed that the driver should have at least passed 12th standard "because when you bring unqualified and incompetent drivers on the road, you put at stake the lives of people". "An educated public transport driver would also show good behaviour towards passengers," the court had said.

The court had restrained the DTC from recruiting any new driver until further orders. The court made the observation when the government failed to fix a date for issuance of the notification with regard to the new fines for traffic violations.

Source: http://epaper.hindustantimes.com (Delhi Edition)
Date Of Publish: 02-Mar-07

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Nothing is fool-proof to a talented fool.

hemant

This move might be scared road users a little bit.

manoj

YOU WILL have to pay more for traffic violations. The government has decided to raise penalties from the existing Rs 100 to Rs 500 and suspend on-the-spot and up to three months driving licences of inebriated drivers.

Careless motorists will be liable to pay a fine of Rs 5,000 if they damage property or hurt people, irrespective of the extent. This money will go into a compensation fund for hit-and-run victims.

This is the first time that penalties are being raised under the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988, in almost two decades. A Bill to amend the Act has been in the works for nearly six years, and its draft legislation will be introduced during Parliament's budget session.

Delhi Traffic Police had pushed for a Rs 1,000 minimum fine. But the government was not sure if this would help; there were suspicions it could encourage police corruption.

"Too stiff a hike could be counter-productive to this objective," said an official of the ministry of road transport and highways. Motorists annually kill more than 85,000 people and injure another 3.5 lakh; one estimate put the annual economic loss of road accidents at Rs 5,000 crore.

Col J.R. Kochhar (retd) of the Auto Association of Upper India welcomed the changes. "A higher punishment should deter traffic violators who also put other road-users to risk," he said.

A provision to suspend driving licences is being introduced as the Centre and the states agree that drunk driving was a leading cause of road accidents.Highways account for nearly one-third of road fatalities.


NEW PENALTIES

• On-the-spot suspension of driving licence, of up to three months, for drunk driving
• Rs 500 fine for jumping red lights and wrong parking
• Rs 5,000 fine for damaging property or hurting people
• Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000 fine for allowing unauthorised person to drive
• Rs 500 to Rs 2,000 fine for underage driving or driving without licence
• Rs 500 for speeding (first offence)
• Rs 1,000 minimum for dangerous driving
• Rs 5,000 maximum for driving without registration

Source: http://epaper.hindustantimes.com (Delhi Edition)
Date Of Publish: 05-Mar-07

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Nothing is fool-proof to a talented fool.

mayank

Until and unless bribery culture will not be removed from our traffic police department any hike in traffic fines can’t sort out the traffic rules violation problem.

Am i right?

motorbike

There should be hard-and-fast rules for traffic violators...Minimum fine for traffic violation should be Rs 1000...

manoj

Call rates may have become dirt cheap but talking on the while driving may prove pretty expensive in the near future. The Delhi government plans to increase the penalty for the offence to a whopping Rs 5,000 — five times the fine amount levied at present.


Since there is no separate section on the use of s while driving, the traffic police at present books such offenders under section 188 of the Motor Vehicle Act, which pertains to ‘dangerous driving’. As per the present law, the offence is punishable with a fine of Rs 1,000 or six months imprisonment for the first time and a fine of Rs 2,000 and two years’ imprisonment for subsequent offences. The fine amount was fixed in 1988, when the Motor Vehicle were brought into force.

The matter of increase in fines is also being heard in Delhi High Court, where the government recently said fines on other offences will also be upped. The government is reportedly planning to increase fines according to the rise in cost of living since 1988.

Incidentally, the British government — realising that use of s while driving directly impacts the number of accidents — hiked the fine for the offence from £30 to £65 last month.

‘‘The UK government has observed that hands-free usage of s cannot be easily seen or enforced. So, it has not been brought under the purview of the offence. The government, however, has urged all users not to use s while driving to ensure their own safety,’’ said Rohit Baluja, president, Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE). Offence not listed in motor vehicle rules.

Source: http://epaper.timesofindia.com (Delhi Edition)
Date Of Publish: 15-Mar-07

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Nothing is fool-proof to a talented fool.

Alex

I can’t say that hike in traffic rules violations penalties can restrict drivers to drive within rules and regulations but one thing is sure there will surely increase in bribery amount that we currently pay to cops to get rid off from challans. Means you may have to pay Rs 200 or more if you caught in drunken driving case instead of Rs 100 as a bribe.

prabhat

Above mentioned things only on paper or in news paper...I have not seen any changes in traffic police while violationg traffic rules....Have you seen???

streetwisw

It is time something was done. The law breaker understands only two things----------loss of money and fear. The rest have nothing to fear.