Chennai traffic police hope heavy fines will bring down traffic offences

Chennai: A day after the Union Cabinet approved the motor vehicle (amendment) bill 2016 proposing a steep hike in penalty for traffic offences, Chennai traffic officials are hoping that once the Act comes into effect, it would bring down the offences considerably.

The amended act will be dealing very strongly with juvenile offenders. It says the guardian / owner of the vehicle used by a juvenile will be deemed guilty. A fine of Rs 25,000 will be levied along with 3-year imprisonment. Juveniles will be tried under the Juvenile justice act and registration of the vehicle involved in the offence also will be cancelled.

The amended Act could extract a minimum fine of Rs 5,000 for driving without licence and drunken driving can attract a minimum fine of Rs 10,000, while speeding and rash driving will become offences that can be slapped with fines of Rs 5,000.

Driving a two-wheeler without helmet will entail a fine of Rs 1000 with disqualification of licence for 3 months. Overloading of two-wheelers will be fined Rs 2000 and the licence will be disqualified for 3 months.

Driving four wheelers without a seat belt will attract a fine of Rs 1,000. The above said penalties are only minimum amount suggested by the central government and the states can increase them by upto 10 times, if found necessary.

“We have been pushing for stringent laws. But MV Act being a central subject, we had our limitations. The existing fine structure is not good enough to be a deterrent factor. Just Rs 100 fine for not wearing a helmet never had its required effect. Violators used to pay it without any heartburn. Now we hope the new penalty structure would bring in some discipline,” a senior city traffic official said.   

A city like Chennai, where 2,800 police personnel manage and regulate traffic, has around 50 lakh vehicles running on the roads. One cannot expect the cops to be catching every offender who either drives without licence or under the influence of alcohol or jumps traffic signals. In Chennai, traffic police function under the command of an additional commissioner, who has two joint commissioners for south and north areas of the city.

Below them are four deputy commissioners who are assisted by three assistant commissioners each. There are 67 inspectors, who are charged with the responsibility of enforcing rules and collecting fines on the spot besides investigating accidents. The officers junior to them can only book for the offences and the fines have to be paid elsewhere.

Currently, Chennai has a system of digitalised spot fine collection—Inspectors carry a hand held machine that punches out a printout, a receipt for the money collected and the offence neatly marked, with the offender’s digital signature affixed on the handheld machine.

“It is a welcome move. Only through rigid enforcement we can reduce accidents and ensure road safety. The act allows the state government to increase the fine by 10 times. It is a good move and it will act as a deterrent against road violations,” an expert on transportation engineering said.

However, the expert cautioned that the amendment’s motto of reducing the number of accidents by 50 per cent in next five years could be achieved only if the Act was properly enforced.

“The main problem in our state is that we are not properly enforcing it due to corruption and leniency. Proper implementation of the Act will have a positive impact,” the expert said. 

He pointed out that the city traffic police acted on traffic violators like helmetless motorbike riders, drivers not wearing seat belts and under-aged drivers only when the Madras High Court pulled them up.

Will the new Act aid the cops on the field to extract bribes from motorists to escape from heavy penalties?

“Well that is a question we need to address. We will certainly bring in a system which will monitor field officers’ activities,” a senior traffic officer said.

Strict helmet rule brought down deaths by 50 per cent in 2015

Chennai has been witnessing strict enforcement of traffic rules on city roads, which had reduced fatalities by 20 per cent in 2015 when compared to 2014. While the deaths in 2014 were 1,074, the year 2015 saw only 861 deaths. But traffic experts feel more stringent rules can bring accidents and fatalities down further.

For example, in the first five months of 2015, the two-wheeler rider fatalities stood at 227.

The compulsory helmet rule came into effect on July 1 and the last seven months of the year saw only 165 two-wheeler rider fatalities. Before the helmet rule came into effect, on an average 45 bike riders were killed in road accidents in Chennai every month while after the helmet rule was made compulsory, the average deaths of two-wheeler riders in mishap came down to 23. "With strict enforcement based on a court order, 50% reduction in fatalities was achieved," an officer noted.

Since 2013, the fatalities on Chennai streets have been steadily decreasing. The number of deaths on roads in 2013 stood at 1,342 and the figure came down to 1074 in 2014. It further came down to 861 in 2015.