Guardians To Be Jailed, Fined For Offences By Juveniles Driving Vehicles

Rajya Sabha passes Motor Vehicles (amendment) bill 2019.

Very soon, traffic violations will invite huge penalties for motorists in India as the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2019 has been passed by Parliament. Among a few new proposals cleared, guardians and owners of vehicles shall be deemed to be guilty in the case of a juvenile committing an offence. Rs 25,000 with 3 yrs imprisonment have been proposed for such an offence while the Juvenile will be tried under JJ Act. The registration of the motor vehicle too will be cancelled.

Another new proposal envisages that a fine of Rs 10,000 will be levied on any vehicle driver for not providing way for emergency vehicles. Apart from this, important areas of amendment include vehicle fitness, recall of vehicles, protection of good Samaritan, cashless treatment during golden hour, taxi aggregators, etc.

The amendments in the Bill mainly focus on issues relating to improving road safety, citizens’ facilitation while dealing with the transport department, strengthening rural transport, last mile connectivity and public transport, automation and computerization and enabling online services. Some of the important areas of amendment are as follows:

ROAD SAFETY

In the area of road safety, the Bill proposes to increase penalties to act as deterrent against traffic violations. Stricter provisions are being proposed in respect of offences like juvenile driving, drunken driving, driving without licence, dangerous driving, over-speeding, overloading etc. Stricter provisions for helmets have been introduced along with provisions for electronic detection of violations. Penalty regarding motor vehicles is to be increased by 10 % every year..

VEHICLE FITNESS