Bengaluru: Revised traffic fines from tomorrow

Bengaluru: While the steep penalties for traffic rules violations have come into effect across the country from Sunday, under the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2019, the city traffic police would be implementing it from Tuesday.

According to a senior traffic police officer, the revised fine amount would come into effect from Tuesday as the traffic police are yet to upgrade the system.

The steep traffic fines, starting from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1 lakh are aimed at instilling fear among the people from violating traffic rules. The new amendment in the Act makes the fines uniform across the country. Earlier, they used to vary from state to state.

A senior traffic police officer said the delay in implementing of revised fines was due to two-day holiday on Sunday and Monday. The revised fines would be implemented once the system was upgraded on Tuesday, the police officer said.

Under the revised fines, driving without a seat-belt can now invite a fine of Rs 1,000, which earlier was Rs 100. Use of mobile phone while driving can invite a fine between Rs 1,000 and 5,000. Earlier it was Rs 1,000.

For drunk driving, the fine has been hiked from Rs 2,000 to Rs 10,000. Drivers will be fined Rs 10,000 for not giving way to emergency vehicles such as ambulance and fire engines.

The fine for driving without licence has been increased from Rs 500 to Rs 5,000. Over-speeding can now invite a penalty between Rs 1,000 and Rs 2,000, up from Rs 400 to Rs 1,000 for light motor vehicles and Rs 2,000 for medium passenger vehicles.

Similarly, for driving without insurance papers, there will be a fine of Rs 2,000; those driving without helmets will have to shell out Rs 1,000 and can face three-month suspension of their licence. Overloading of vehicles will draw a penalty of Rs 20,000.

In case of any road offence by underage drivers, the guardian or owner of the vehicle will be held guilty; the penalty will be Rs 25,000 along with three years in jail and the registration will be cancelled. Taxi aggregators violating driving licences will be fined up to Rs 1 lakh.