The Motor Vehicle Act of 1988 has not been updated ever since it first came into being. It has been hotly debated since being proposed by the BJP Government. Below are the positives of the proposed amendments :
The amendment bill now pending in the Rajya Sabha proposes huge increases in various penalties for traffic violations, protection to Good Samaritans, recall of defective vehicle parts by auto companies, holding builders accountable for poor quality of infrastructure and making vehicle owners criminally liable for violations committed by juvenile drivers. But only 3 out of 92 clauses refer to road safety.
1) It makes Aadhaar mandatory for getting a driving licence and vehicle registration.
2) For deaths in hit-and-run cases, the government will provide a compensation of Rs 2 lakh or more to the victim's family. Currently, the amount is just Rs 25,000.
3) In traffic violations by juveniles, the guardians or owner of the vehicle would be held responsible unless they prove the offence was committed without their knowledge or they tried to prevent it. The registration of the motor vehicle in question will be cancelled. The juvenile will be tried under the Juvenile Justice Act.
4) The bill has provision for protection of Good Samaritans. Those who come forward to help accident victims will be protected from civil or criminal liability. It will be optional for them to disclose their identity to the police or medical personnel.
5) The minimum fine for drunk driving has been increased from Rs 2,000 to Rs 10,000.
6) The fine for rash driving has been increased from Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000.
7) Driving without a licence will attract a minimum fine of Rs 5,000 as against Rs 500 at present.
8) The fine for over-speeding will go up from Rs 400 to Rs 1,000-2,000.
9) Not wearing seatbelt would attract a fine of Rs 1,000 as against Rs 100 at present.
10) Talking on a mobile phone while driving will attract a fine of Rs 5,000, up from Rs 1,000.
11) It will be mandatory to alter vehicles to make them suitable for specially abled people.
12) Contractors, consultants and civic agencies will be accountable for faulty design, construction or poor maintenance of roads leading to accidents.
13) The time limit for renewal of driving licence is increased from one month to one year before and after the expiry date. Online applications for driving licences have been enabled.
A Hindu editorial says that the changes to the motor vehicles act will enable centrally-drafted schemes to be issued for national, multi-modal and inter-State movement of goods and passengers, for rural mobility and even last-mile connectivity. Since all this represents a new paradigm that would shake up the sector, several States have opposed the provisions as being anti-federal.
The passenger transport sector operating within cities and providing inter-city services has grown amorphously, with vested interests exploiting the lack of transparency and regulatory bottlenecks. With a transparent system, professional new entrants can enter the sector. As things stand, State-run services have not kept pace with the times. Major investments made in the urban metro rail systems are yielding poor results in the absence of last-mile connectivity services.
Creating an equitable regulatory framework for the orderly growth of services is critical. This could be achieved through changes to the motor vehicle Act that set benchmarks for States. Enabling well-run bus services to operate across States with suitable permit charges is an imperative to meet the needs of a growing economy.
Regulatory changes introduced in Europe over the past few years for bus services have fostered competition, reduced fares and increased services operating across European Union member-states.
Some states have taken steps to improve road safety. Haryana, for example, launched the Vision Zero programme in 2017 which is aimed at reducing road traffic accident fatalities to zero in the long term. It seems to have made a difference already as 10 districts where it was rolled out have reported up to 5% decline in road accident fatalities while the other 12 districts have witnessed an increase in such deaths. This month, Delhi’s state government approved a similar policy; it commits to a 10% reduction in accident deaths annually and targets a “zero road fatality” in the long run.
The amendment bill now pending in the Rajya Sabha proposes huge increases in various penalties for traffic violations, protection to Good Samaritans, recall of defective vehicle parts by auto companies, holding builders accountable for poor quality of infrastructure and making vehicle owners criminally liable for violations committed by juvenile drivers. But only 3 out of 92 clauses refer to road safety.
1) It makes Aadhaar mandatory for getting a driving licence and vehicle registration.
2) For deaths in hit-and-run cases, the government will provide a compensation of Rs 2 lakh or more to the victim's family. Currently, the amount is just Rs 25,000.
3) In traffic violations by juveniles, the guardians or owner of the vehicle would be held responsible unless they prove the offence was committed without their knowledge or they tried to prevent it. The registration of the motor vehicle in question will be cancelled. The juvenile will be tried under the Juvenile Justice Act.
4) The bill has provision for protection of Good Samaritans. Those who come forward to help accident victims will be protected from civil or criminal liability. It will be optional for them to disclose their identity to the police or medical personnel.
5) The minimum fine for drunk driving has been increased from Rs 2,000 to Rs 10,000.
6) The fine for rash driving has been increased from Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000.
7) Driving without a licence will attract a minimum fine of Rs 5,000 as against Rs 500 at present.
8) The fine for over-speeding will go up from Rs 400 to Rs 1,000-2,000.
9) Not wearing seatbelt would attract a fine of Rs 1,000 as against Rs 100 at present.
10) Talking on a mobile phone while driving will attract a fine of Rs 5,000, up from Rs 1,000.
11) It will be mandatory to alter vehicles to make them suitable for specially abled people.
12) Contractors, consultants and civic agencies will be accountable for faulty design, construction or poor maintenance of roads leading to accidents.
13) The time limit for renewal of driving licence is increased from one month to one year before and after the expiry date. Online applications for driving licences have been enabled.
A Hindu editorial says that the changes to the motor vehicles act will enable centrally-drafted schemes to be issued for national, multi-modal and inter-State movement of goods and passengers, for rural mobility and even last-mile connectivity. Since all this represents a new paradigm that would shake up the sector, several States have opposed the provisions as being anti-federal.
The passenger transport sector operating within cities and providing inter-city services has grown amorphously, with vested interests exploiting the lack of transparency and regulatory bottlenecks. With a transparent system, professional new entrants can enter the sector. As things stand, State-run services have not kept pace with the times. Major investments made in the urban metro rail systems are yielding poor results in the absence of last-mile connectivity services.
Creating an equitable regulatory framework for the orderly growth of services is critical. This could be achieved through changes to the motor vehicle Act that set benchmarks for States. Enabling well-run bus services to operate across States with suitable permit charges is an imperative to meet the needs of a growing economy.
Regulatory changes introduced in Europe over the past few years for bus services have fostered competition, reduced fares and increased services operating across European Union member-states.
Some states have taken steps to improve road safety. Haryana, for example, launched the Vision Zero programme in 2017 which is aimed at reducing road traffic accident fatalities to zero in the long term. It seems to have made a difference already as 10 districts where it was rolled out have reported up to 5% decline in road accident fatalities while the other 12 districts have witnessed an increase in such deaths. This month, Delhi’s state government approved a similar policy; it commits to a 10% reduction in accident deaths annually and targets a “zero road fatality” in the long run.
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