Review steep fines for traffic violations: PM Narendra Modi

NEW DELHI: With poor enforcement being the root cause of the best legal provisions failing to deliver the desired results, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked the road transport ministry to come out with the road map for proper implementation of the proposed provisions in the Road Transport and Safety Bill.

Sources said that Modi has also suggested to the ministry to re-look at the proposed steep jump in fines for common traffic violations — such as Rs 5,000 for jumping traffic light — for practical enforcement of the law.

There have been demands from different quarters to reduce the fines and penalties to avoid more "compromise or corruption" between traffic policemen and the violators when such offences are caught. TOI has learnt that the fines would be slashed substantially before the bill goes to Parliament.

Modi has also asked the ministry to look into the aspect of taming tractors that often get on to highways carrying passengers thereby endangering road safety. PM witnessed a detailed presentation of the proposed bill along with a few other Cabinet ministers early this week and one of them had also flagged the issue of the proposed higher fines.

"The PM has asked that all issues should be discussed threadbare involving stakeholders from states and experts before the final bill is placed before the Cabinet. He has asked the cabinet secretary to hold this meeting," a government source said.

The NDA government had announced replacing the present Central Motor Vehicle Act with the new bill that would deal with the entire gamut of road safety and transport defining the responsibilities of each authority so that there is no scope to pass the buck. The death of former rural development minister Gopinath Munde in a road crash had triggered the move.

"We have provisions for authorities with their defined scope of operation so that they can be held accountable whether it's the mechanism for issuing driving licence, vehicle safety, recall of vehicle and implementation of multi-modal transport," said an official.

He added the two major focus areas of the bill are to streamline the driving licence regime with little scope for human intervention and defining road design and maintenance standards to make the roads safer for all users.