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Drunk driving may put Rs 10,000 dent in your wallet

It seems like this time the Union Government is paying extra attention to road safety. The Motor Vehicle Act is especially important when you see how rapidly the numbers of vehicles on roads have increased.

In the new Motor Vehicles Act, much higher penalties for driving offenses are expected.

The bill, likely to be introduced in Parliament in the next few days, proposes Rs 10,000 fine for drink driving and blocking way of emergency vehicles, including ambulance, fire brigade and PCRs among other things.

Some important proposals in the Motor Vehicles Bill:

Fine for drunk driving has been increased from Rs 2,000 to Rs 10,000.
The fine for rash driving has been increased from Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000.
Driving without a licence will attract a minimum fine of Rs 5,000.
The fine for over-speeding will go up from Rs 400 to Rs 1,000-2,000.
Not wearing a seatbelt would attract a fine of Rs 1,000 as against Rs 100 at present.
Talking on a mobile phone while driving will attract a fine of Rs 5,000, up from Rs 1,000.
Penalty for blocking the way of emergency vehicles, including ambulance, fire brigade and PCRs.
Violators of licensing rules would be penalised with fines of up to Rs 1 lakh.
Aadhaar mandatory for getting a driving licence and vehicle registration.
It will be mandatory to alter vehicles to make them suitable for specially-abled people.
The time limit for renewal of driving licence is increased from one month to one year before and after the expiry date.
Special provision for protection of Good Samaritans. Those who come forward to help accident victims will be protected from civil or criminal liability.

Earlier, The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has decided to modify the format of driving licenses to smart card type driving licences. Nitin Gadkari said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha that his Ministry has prescribed a common standard format and design of the Driving Licence for the whole of the country.

The Ministry has prescribed a common standard format and design of the Driving Licence for the whole of the country which includes the placement of information, standardization of fonts, etc. This Ministry through its flagship application called SARATHI developed by National Informatics Centre have a common countrywide database of all driving license holders. Almost 15 crore driving license records are available in its central repository.