Know all about the New Traffic Rules & Violations In India

8 min read Posted on 12 July 2024

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The Union Cabinet approved some changes in Motor Vehicle Amendment Bill, which was pending for approval in Rajya Sabha at 16th Lok Sabha term-end. The proposals are based on the suggestions of transport ministers from 18 states and further concluded by the standing committee of the parliament.

Know All About The New Traffic Rules & Violations In India

You can be penalized for jumping the red light, hindering emergency vehicles, driving without a helmet or driving without the seat belt on, caught without insurance certificate or pollution check, over speeding, improper or obstructive parking, etc. Rules violation can be any while driving. Don’t get surprised if you are stopped by the police and overcharged on a traffic rules violation. The new traffic rules bill says a lot about amendments done on it. The approval on traffic rules bill aims to tackle the pertaining road safety issues. Some strict provisions have been proposed for some offenses like- drunk driving, rash driving, over speeding or overloading, etc.

New penalty amounts under Motor Vehicles Amendment Act, 2019 from September 1

Scenarios	Old fines (INR)	Revised fines (INR)
Violation of Roads Regulation	N/A	500 to 1,000
Disobedience of orders of Authority and refusal to share information	500	2,000
Unauthorized use of a Vehicle without a Driving license	1,000	5,000
Driving without license	500	5,000
Driving without Vehicle Insurance	Fine of INR 1,000 and/or punishment of up to 3 months	INR 2,000 and/or imprisonment up to 3 months for the first offence and fine of INR 4,000 and/or imprisonment up to 3 months for the second offence.
Driving Despite Disqualification	500	10,000
Over Speeding	400	INR 1000 - INR 2,000 for light motor vehicles, INR 2,000 - INR 4,000 for medium passenger or goods vehicles and impounding of driving license for second/subsequent offence.
Dangerous Driving	N/A	Imprisonment of 6 months to 1 year and/or fine of INR 1,000- INR 5,000 for first offence and imprisonment up to 2 years and/or fine up to INR 10,000 for second offence.
Drink & Driving	N/A	Imprisonment of up to 6 months and/or a fine of up to INR 10,000 for the first offence and imprisonment of up to 2 years and/or a fine of INR 15,000 for the second offence.
Driving when mentally or physically unfit to drive for	INR 200 for the first offence, INR 500 for the second/subsequent offence	First offence - INR 1,000 and second/subsequent offence - INR 2,000
Offences relating to accident	N/A	Imprisonment of up to 6 months and/or a fine of up to INR 5,000 for the first offence and imprisonment of up to 1 year and/or fine of up to INR 10,000 for the second offence.
Speeding or Racing	N/A	Imprisonment of up to 1 month and/or fine up to INR 500 for first offence and imprisonment up to 1 month and/or fine up to INR 10,000 for second offence.
Seizing other's vehicle forcefully without any lawful authority	500	5,000
Causing obstructions in free-flowing traffic	50	500
Traveling without Ticket	200	500
Driving without helmet	100	1,000 and disqualification of driving license for 3 months
Driving without seatbelts	100	1,000
Oversized vehicle rule	N/A	5,000
Not giving way to emergency vehicles	N/A	10,000
Overloading in 2 wheeler	100	2,000 and disqualification of the license of 3 months
Offences by juveniles	N/A	Guardian deemed guilty- a fine of 25000 INR, 3 years imprisonment, cancellation of vehicle registration & will go under juvenile trail
Offences related to accidents	N/A	5,000/ imprisonment of upto 6 months

Source: Transport Ministry's press release

Apart from proposing heavy violation charges on the rule-breaker, the amendments done in new traffic violation bill aims to strengthen the public transport and will ultimately help to curb the corruption. Never ever fulfil any illegal monetary demand made by traffic police or try to bribe them.

In case if any challan is issued to you, ensure that it contains the following details-

Name and Address of the court
Date of trial
Details of the violation
Vehicle details
Name of the Challan Officer
Place and time details where the incident has happened
Name and address of the offender

Apart from all the revised Traffic Violation fines, the law is also expected to make new motor registration process a little easy. Reduction in human interference and computerization of licence can help in identifying multiple and fake issued licences in the market. At the same time, carrying driving related documents in digilocker is a good option and is accepted legally in India. It will be enough and will save you from carrying physical documents along.

Note* More articles and information on vehicle insurance at RenewBuy & RTO at RTO articles.