Lok Sabha passes Motor Vehicle Act 2016

The Lok Sabha has approved the amendments to the Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Bill 2016 by an absolute majority. Apart from 28 new ones, there will be amendments to 68 of the current Act's 223 sections. Compensation for hit-and-run cases will be increased from Rs 25,000 to Rs 2 lakh and for fatal road accidents, up to Rs 10 lakh. To help road accident victims, new Good Samaritan guidelines have been incorporated in the Bill. The government is committed to reducing accidents and fatalities by 50 percent in five years. As is known, over five lakh road accidents are reported in India each year, with over 1.5 lakh losing their lives.

The Bill aims to crack the whip on traffic violators. One of the clauses in the Bill, for instance, is that parents/guardian/vehicle owner will be held guilty if a minor is caught driving and is involved in an accident. The punitive measure is a fine of Rs 25,000 with three-year imprisonment and cancellation of vehicle registration. The amendments also proposes some stiff penalties, hiked from two- to ten-fold covering a number of typical offenses committed in India and are the cause of road accidents. For driving without a licence, the existing penalty of Rs 500 will increase to Rs 5,000, for drunken driving (which is a leading cause of accidents and fatalities) it will increase from Rs 2,000 to Rs 10,000, and for overspeeding the fine of Rs 400 will now be Rs 1,000 for LMVs (light motor vehicles) and Rs 2,000 for passenger vehicles. To adjust for inflation, the fines will be revised upward by a fixed 10 percent on April 1 every year.

Further, the revised Bill empowers state governments to increase the fines in their jurisdiction by up to 10 times. A new section in the Act has also been added for the states to regulate the activities of pedestrians and non-motorised road users in a public place by creating special zones such as cycle tracks, footpaths and non-motorable tracks. Issuing licences and modification of vehicles for differently abled persons have been made easier. And helmets for children above four years when being carried in a motorcycle and securing each child with a seatbelt or a child seat in a four-wheeler is now mandatory.

As a next step, the bill will be introduced in the Rajya Sabha. Once it is passed in the Rajya Sabha as well, it will be sent to the President for his assent.

Improved transportation system

Besides clamping down on errant motorists, the government will focus on a system of licensing and certification of automobiles. To enable a common registration and licensing process across the country, the Bill proposes to link all applicants with their UID and create one national register for driving licences and another for vehicles registration. The process of testing and certification of automobiles is proposed to be regulated more effectively. Testing agencies (like ARAI) which issue automobile approvals have been brought under the ambit of the Act. Manufacturers of faulty vehicles or those that do not meet required criteria can be penalised by up to Rs 100 crore. Even road contractors will not be spared now, with faulty design and construction leading to fines up to Rs 1 lakh.