The Rajya Sabha passed the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill 2019 on Wednesday. It aims to improve road safety, raise penalties for traffic violations, curb RTO (Regional Transport Office) corruption.
The Bill has proposed a penalty of Rs 5,000 for driving without a license which earlier was Rs 500.
The bill would allow stricter punishment for various traffic-related offenses as well as higher penalties. A compensation of Rs 5 lakh for death and Rs 2.5 lakh for grievous injury in a motor vehicle accident case.
Driving without insurance will be punishable with Rs 2,000 fine while driving without helmets will attract Rs 1,000 penalty and 3-month suspension of license.
Traffic violations will have a penalty of Rs 500 which was Rs 100 earlier, while disobedience of orders of authorities will attract a minimum penalty of Rs 2,000 instead of Rs 500.
Overspeeding will fetch you a penalty of Rs 1,000- 2,000.
The bill proposes Rs 10,000 fine for not giving way to emergency vehicles and Rs 10,000 for driving despite disqualification. Aggregators violating driving licenses will be fined up to Rs 1 lakh.
For offenses committed by juveniles, the guardian/owner will be deemed guilty owing a penalty of Rs 25,000 with three years imprisonment and cancellation of registration of the Motor Vehicle.
Penalty for reckless driving would be increased to Rs 5,000 from Rs 1,000, while drunken driving under the proposed new law would attract a fine of Rs 10,000.
If aggregators are found violating licensing conditions, they will be charged a sum of up to Rs 1 lakh” while overloading of vehicles would attract a penalty of Rs 20,000.
| Description | Old penalty/provision | New proposed penalty/provision |
| Driving without license | Rs 500 | Rs 5000 |
| Driving despite disqualification | Rs 500 | Rs 10,000 |
| Over speeding | Rs 400 | Rs 1000 (light motor vehicle)
Rs 2000 (medium passenger vehicle) |
| Dangerous driving | Rs 1000 | Rs 5000 |
| Drunken driving | Rs 2000 | Rs 10,000 |
| Racing | Rs 500 | Rs 5000 |
| Overloading | Rs 1000 per extra passenger | |
| No seatbelt | Rs 100 | Rs 1000 |
| Overloading two-wheeler | Rs 100 | Rs 2000; license disqualification for 3 months |
| No helmet | Rs 100 | Rs 1000; license disqualification for 3 months |
| Not providing a way to an emergency vehicle | Rs 10,000 | |
| Driving without insurance | Rs 1000 | Rs 2000 |
| Offenses by juveniles | Guardian/vehicle owner deemed guilty – Rs 25,000 with 3 years imprisonment. Vehicle registration canceled. Juvenile to be tried under the JJ Act | |
| Offenses committed by enforcing agencies | Double of applicable penalty |
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