The Central Government introduced the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill in 2019 with the objective to bring about more transparency and improve road safety. While there were many changes which were welcomed by motorists such as a transparent registration system of vehicles and cashless treatment for accident victims, however, the steep revision of traffic fines have left the motorists extremely unhappy. In fact, if truth be told, there are a few traffic violation offences which now command ten times the amount as penalties in comparison to what was earlier imposed for the same offence.

“I have been working in the Kolkata Police Traffic Department since 1999, and the minimum traffic fine then amounted to INR 50,” said an inspector of the Kolkata Traffic Police who wished to remain anonymous. “After that, the minimum traffic fine was increased to INR 100 in the following couple of years and had remained the same for almost the next two decades, until now.” 
While this steep rise in traffic fines has caused frenzy among the general motorists, however, the Government has defended this move by stating the need for greater road safety as the sole reason behind it. And while the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill was passed in 2019, it was as recently as February 2022 when the bill was implemented in West Bengal. “I think it’s fair for the penalties to be hiked now though it could’ve been done earlier or more gradually for the public to get used to it”, commented the Kolkata Traffic Police inspector.

Excessive Fines
The previous traffic penalty structure was more reasonable and easy on the pocket of the motorists. The maximum fine amounted to around INR 2000, with only a handful of offences that saw the driving license being suspended and the offender jailed. Additionally, any repeat offence didn’t command a higher penalty, which perhaps incited some carefree motorists to disregard the law consistently. However, the revised traffic fine structure commences at INR 500, which is just the start.
 
Traffic violations like not wearing seatbelts or not wearing a helmet for motorcyclists now attract a fine of INR 1,000 - a ten-fold increase over the previous penalty of INR 100. Until last month, if a motorist was found violating the speed limit, they were fined INR 300, and the penalty remained the same regardless of the repeated instances. But now, that fine has shot up to INR 1,000 for light motor vehicles, INR 2,000 for heavy vehicles for the first offence and the penalty doubles to INR 2000 and INR 4000 respectively, in the event of a repeated offence.
  
The trouble with the old structure was that the penalties for traffic violations were minuscule for the general motorists to bear. For instance, some motorcyclists didn’t mind being fined INR 100 for not wearing a helmet, on occasions even repeatedly, instead of abiding by the law. But the revised traffic fine regime, which increases the fine amount by ten-fold, will now compel the casual motorists to pay heed to traffic rules and compel them to abide by the law. While the general motorists have heavily criticized the steep revision of traffic fine, however, these excessive penalties will certainly boost traffic rule compliance.

Awareness before implementation
As per the data sourced from the Kolkata Police Traffic Department, the number of road accident cases registered in 2015 stood at 3,739 comprising a death count of 422. Three years later, the number of traffic cases amounted to 2,456 with 294 circumstances of death by accident. That’s a decline of over 30 percent in both counts, courtesy of awareness programs being implemented by the Kolkata Traffic Police. The “Safe Drive Save Lives” campaign became one of the most successful initiatives by Kolkata Police Traffic Department, which also saw traffic officials educating the motorists during their waiting time at various traffic signals.
 
The city was brimmed with posters and roadside hoarding with captions reading ‘speeding kills’ and ‘always wear a helmet’ urging motorists to be more responsible. The police department also utilised social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter to create awareness among the tech-savvy youths of the city. Even movie complexes throughout the city played video footage to create awareness among the general motorists.
 
Manas Mishra, a 23-year-old resident of Sealdah, commutes to the Calcutta Stock Exchange daily. Finding a parking spot in that area is equivalent to finding a treasure. Hence, Manas has to make do by stationing his car along with several others in a supposed no-parking lane nearby. The young business executive has been doing that for years and never faced an issue until last month, a message alert from the Kolkata Police Traffic Department made him realise he needs to alter that habit. “It was while returning from the office that day that I received this SMS on my phone that my vehicle was parked in a no-parking lane and I had to pay a fine for it online, with a link attached to it. Though I was initially annoyed for being fined, however, I was content that at least my car’s tyres weren’t clamped or I wasn’t harassed by a traffic police official on the road during my office hours”. 
Increased fines take down public transport
The implementation of Motor Vehicles Amendment Bill saw widespread outrage from motorists across the country, specifically stating discomfort with the revised fines. In 2022, West Bengal Transport Minister Firhad Hakim witnessed a similar outburst but from several commercial transport unions such as private buses, taxis and online cabs.
 
Six representatives of such transport unions wrote a letter to the Transport Minister stating the new traffic penalties ‘not be implemented’ and the Government should instead consider lending ‘financial support’ that will aid the commercial transport industry to survive the onslaught of the pandemic.
 
“How will we pay such steep fines when we don’t have enough money to bring operate our buses profitably?” asked Rahul Chatterjee of the All Bengal Bus Minibus Samannay Samiti. “The Government must be aware of how buses across several routes have stopped plying because the business is no longer profitable. In such a situation, who can pay these hefty fines?” The minister is yet to respond on the matter.
 
Physical documents are still a must in THIS ERA OF digitisation
A notification dated December 23, 2021 was circulated by the Transport Department of the West Bengal Government. It referred to the advisory released by the Central Government’s Ministry of Road Transport and Highway, asking all states and union territories of the country to accept documents presented digitally via the Digilocker or mParivahan app and notified both the traffic authorities as well as motorists about the same.
 
The notification clearly mentions that electronic records available on either Digilocker or mParivahan platforms are deemed to be legally recognised at par with the original documents as per the Information Technology Act 2000 provisions. Even in the case of vehicular insurance, the circular further states that the requirement of a hard copy won’t be necessary if the vehicle’s registration details on either digital platform contain the validity details of the insurance policy.
 
In case of a traffic violation by a motorist, the notification clarifies that there is no requirement of physical seizure of driving-related papers, provided the enforcement agency can reflect the impounding directly on the VAHAN/SARATHI database electronically through the ‘eChallan’ system.
 
However, upon enquiring about the need for producing physical documents, another traffic inspector, who also wished to remain anonymous, advised motorists to continue carrying physical documents. In the event of regular checking and verification at check posts or nakas, the digital documents showcased on the digital platforms will be accepted by the Kolkata Traffic Police, however, in the event of a traffic violation, the motorists will be required to produce physical documents to traffic authorities for necessary action and legal proceedings.  

All photographs published are for representational purpose only