The new Motor Vehicle Act was established on September 01, 2019. According to this new bill, any minor driving errors will attract huge penalties. All the new regulations and hike fines that came into effect from September 2019 were listed out on August 28, 2019.
According to the previous penalty structure, if you were caught without an active two wheeler insurance, the penalty imposed was INR 1000 and/or imprisonment of up to three months. However, depending on the new penalty structure, it has been increased to INR 2000 and/or imprisonment of up to three months.
Likewise, there has been a significant hike in other offences as well. It is discussed in the table below –
| OFFENCE | OLD PENALTY | NEW PENALTY |
| General (offences for which no penalty is defined otherwise) | INR100 for the first offence; INR300 for subsequent offence | INR500 for the first offence; INR1,500 for subsequent offence |
| Road regulation violation | INR100 | INR500 |
| Disobedience of orders of authorities | INR500 | INR2,000 |
| Unauthorized use of vehicles without license | INR1,000 | INR1,000 – INR5,000 |
| Driving without license | INR500 | INR5,000 and/or community service |
| Driving despite disqualification | INR500 | INR10,000 and/or community service |
| Oversized vehicles | N/A | INR5,000 – INR10,000 and/or community service |
| Over-speeding | INR400 | INR1,000 – INR2,000 for LMV
INR2,000 – INR4,000 for MPV/HPV and/or impounding of driving license |
| Dangerous driving (e.g. jumping a red light) | INR1,000 | INR1,000 – INR5,000 and/or imprisonment of 6 months to 1 year for the first offence, seizure of license; INR 10,000 and/or imprisonment of up to 2 years for a subsequent offence |
| Drink driving | INR2,000 | INR10,000 and/or imprisonment of up to 6 months to 1 year for the first offence; INR 15,000 and/or imprisonment of up to 2 years for a subsequent offence |
| Speeding/Racing | INR500 | INR5,000 and/or imprisonment of 1 month, community service; INR10,000 and/or imprisonment of up to 1 month for a subsequent offence |
| Offences relating to an accident | N/A | Up to INR5,000 and/or imprisonment of up to 6 months for the first offence; INR10,000 and/or imprisonment of up to 1 year for a subsequent offence |
| Driving when mentally/physically unfit to drive | INR200 for the first offence; INR500 for a subsequent offence | INR1,000 for the first offence; INR2,000 for a subsequent offence |
| Vehicle without permit | Up to INR5,000 | INR10,000 and/or imprisonment of up to 6 months, community service |
| Aggregators (violations of licensing conditions) | N/A | INR25,000 to INR1 lakh |
| Overloading | INR2,000 and INR1,000 per extra tonne | INR20,000 and INR2,000 per extra tonne |
| Overloading of passengers | N/A | INR1,000 per extra passenger |
| No Seat belt | INR100 | INR1,000 and/or community service |
| Overloading of two wheelers | INR100 | INR2,000, disqualification of license for 3 months and/or community service |
| Not wearing a helmet | INR100 | INR1,000 and/or disqualification of license for 3 months, community service |
| Not providing a way for emergency vehicles like ambulance | N/A | INR10,000 and/or community service |
| Driving without insurance | INR1,000 and/or punishment up to 3 months | INR 2,000 and/or imprisonment up to 3 months for the first offence; INR 4000 and/or imprisonment up to 3 months for the subsequent offence |
| Offences by juveniles | N/A | Guardian/owner shall be deemed to be guilty. INR25,000 with 3 years imprisonment and cancellation of the registration of the vehicle for 12 months. A Juvenile will be tried under the Juvenile Justice Act. |
| Power of officers to impound documents | N/A | Suspension of driving license |
| Offences committed by enforcing authorities | N/A | Twice the penalty under the relevant section |
| Taking a vehicle without lawful authority/seizing motor vehicle by force | INR500 | INR5,000 |
| Obstructing the free flow of traffic | INR50 | INR500 |
With the enhancement in the penalties charged under section 177 of Motor Vehicle Act and others, it is believed that people will abide by the traffic safety regulations. This will further get the road accidents rates in India under control, thus saving a million lives.