Are you a rash driver? Or love to test the speed of your car? Well, in case, you may have to pay a higher insurance premium than others. Don’t be surprised and this is will not be a joke now if things go as planned.
For all the people who drive rashly, this is a news that will concern them, and they need to be very careful now if they do not want to pay higher bike insurance premium. Rash driving has undoubtedly become a menace on the road and government along with the concerned authorities are constantly trying to device new plans to overcome the problem. So, are you driving rash? You may have to pay a higher insurance premium.
Rash Driving and Insurance
With increasing number of accidents and deaths due to rash driving and not following traffic rules, the government is trying to find a solution to make road travel safer. One such latest move by the Transport Department of Delhi Government has proposed to link the rash driving with the insurance premium paid by the vehicle owners.
As per the latest plan by the authorities, any person who is caught jumping a red signal or driving in a rash manner or for that matter is involved in any other offence of a similar nature, will have to pay a higher bike insurance premium, if the proposal of Delhi Govt transport dept is approved by the Centre. Apart from paying the higher amount as premium, they might also have to forgo their no claim bonus, which is a discount offered by the insurance company for every no claim year. Less discounts and higher premium will make insurance more expensive. As per the existing laws, if any individual is caught for any such offence, their license is seized for a period of three months. The driver in this case can be anyone driving the bike or the owner and this penalty does not reflect on the vehicle record. This did not have a great impact on the way people drive and there was no considerable difference in the road accident cases due to rash driving.
The Rationale Behind the Rule
This is a proposal by the Transport department of the Delhi Government and now this will be sent to the Central Government for review. The issue of road safety will also be raised with the committee of the Supreme Court, the apex court in the country. This proposal will be assessed by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways of the Union Government and once it gets an approval from them, for implementation it will be sent to the Finance Ministry.
The existing system is such that there is no record of rash driving and traffic violations on the vehicle and this is the point which needs work and is something that might get changed with this new proposal of the Delhi Government. There is system called Vahan, which is a centralized vehicle management and information system. The data with respect to rash driving and violations of traffic rules will be uploaded on this, as per the proposal.
Once this data is uploaded, the insurance companies can check the data and accordingly calculate the premium. Thus, anyone who is driving rash should be prepared to pay a higher bike insurance premium. The idea behind this proposal is that as third-party insurance is mandatory and if the premium is increases for insurance, people will become more careful while driving and the chances to pay a higher bike insurance premium will act as a deterrent factor and encourage bike owners to drive safely and more responsibly. Even if the bike owners are not driving the vehicle on their own, they will ensure that the person driving it will be more careful and stick to the traffic rules.
The Global Scenario
In the other developed countries of the world like the United States of America, similar systems are in place and the driving record has an impact on the insurance premium paid. Once the system is approved and is implemented, road travel will become easier and safer for everyone.
As the laws in our country are not strict and there is a lack of implementation also, such laws and rules where a computerized system is in place, will help manage rash driving cases to a large extent. When people know that if they are not following traffic rules, there will be a higher bike insurance premium that they will have to pay, they will definitely become more cautious. So, if you are driving rash? You may have to pay a higher insurance premium. Next time, when you are zooming your bike on the road, be careful and obey traffic rules. You certainly don’t want to spend more money on your insurance.