Gujarat Reduces Traffic Violation Fines Under New Motor Vehicles Act

The Gujarat government on Tuesday announced a reduction in fines under the new Motor Vehicles Act, which came into effect on September 1 across the country. The penalty for driving without insurance has been doubled from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000 for first-time offenders and has gone up four times for second-time offenders to Rs 4,000.

Not wearing a seat belt, drunk and dangerous driving, over-speeding, jumping red lights, driving without insurance and overloading vehicles will also attract higher penalties.

Under the new fine structure in Gujarat, the penalty for not wearing a helmet is changed to Rs 500, which is Rs 1000 under the Motor Vehicles Act. For not wearing seat belts Rs 500 will be charged, as against Rs 1000.

Driving a vehicle without a driving licence will cost you a fine of Rs 2000 for the two-wheelers and Rs 3000 for the rest, as against Rs 5000 under the new rule.

If the licence, insurance, PUC, RC book is not there, the fine will be as per the new Motor Vehicles Act. For the first time, Rs 500 will be fined and second time penalty is Rs 1000.

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani: Driving a vehicle dangerously attracts a fine of ₹5000 as per new rules, however, in Gujarat it will be ₹1500 for three-wheelers, ₹3000 for Light Motor Vehicles (LMVs) and ₹5000 for others. https://t.co/IEPzlq6DJi

— ANI (@ANI) September 10, 2019

For triple riding, the fine will be Rs 100 as against Rs 1000 in the MV Act. Driving a vehicle with pollution has a fine of Rs 10,000 under the new MV Act, whereas in Gujarat it will be Rs 1000 for small vehicles and Rs 3000 for large vehicles.

On Saturday, Union Road Transport and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari defended the high penalty under the new motor vehicles act, saying the idea behind it is to make people conform to rules, and asked what is more important lives or money.

Earlier, he said, people did not take road safety rules seriously and used to get away by paying a small amount. This attitude won't stop until strict rules are made, the minister added.

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