International Road Federation (IRF) global road safety body working for better and safer roads worldwide welcoming the current Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Act 2019 which brought about steep rise in fines for traffic violations has suggested to the Union government for gradual increase in the fines and find ways and means to stop ‘False’ and ‘Entrapped’ challenging by the enforcement agencies.
“The recent amendments in the Motor Vehicle Act which brought about steep rise in fines for traffic violations cannot be faulted, they must be commended. But care should be taken that the fines are imposed gradually on traffic violators in the sense that if the increase range is from Rs. 100 to Rs 1000, the first year should be Rs 250, second year should be Rs 500 and the third year should be Rs 1,000.” Said Mr K K Kapila, President emeritus, International Road Federation (IRF) and Co-Chairperson FICCI National Committee on Transport Infrastructure,
“Law enforcement must have an implied message that it is for the benefit of the person being regulated not for any other purpose. The new MV Act needs public education. The fines collected from traffic violators should be exclusively used for road safety not for running the government. As separate ‘Road Safety Fund ‘ as directed by the Supreme Court should be set up from the funds collected from traffic violations “ Said Mr kapila.
“The corpus of the road safety fund should be used for automation of the traffic enforcement, installation of Intelligent Transportation Systems and devices to improve traffic safety. After installation of automated traffic enforcement systems the Operation and maintenance should be given on Public Private Partnership basis to expert agencies . This will also help in curtailing ‘False ‘ and ‘Entrapped’ challaning by the enforcement agencies “ said Mr Kapila.
“ For educating traffic violators and gradual fining we suggest that the Traffic police personal should carry self-inking rubber stamps in Green, Red and orange color with road safety messages and warnings to be imprinted on Challan copy for example the rider without helmet will have stamped message on his challan “100 two-wheeler riders met with an accident wearing helmets. Only 5 died and 15 were injured. Another lot of 100 two-wheeler riders without helmets met with a similar accident of which 50 died, 25 were injured and 20 had minor injuries. “ said Mr Arun Mohan an eminent Supreme court lawyer and crusader of road safety ,
“Similarly for drunk driving, this fine is only to educate people and save lives and regulate behavior. Statistics and surveys have shown that the risk is much more as the person for self and for other road users .If this form of challaning is done coupled with a temporary reduction for one year, It will help improve road behavior leading to greater safety” said Mr Mohan
