MOTOR VEHICLE AMENDMENT ACT -2019; ACT CAN. BUT CAN THE SYSTEM?

                    

 

 The author of this article Prajakta Panda, is a Law Student of University Law College,

Bhubaneswar, Odisha

 The best car safety device is a rear-view mirror with a cop.’

                                                                                                -Doudle Moore

India, the country with the second-largest road network in the world with a total length of around 4,320,000 kilometres, consisting of 1000 Km of expressways, 79,243 Km of National Highways and 1,31,899 Km of State Highways and other major districts and rural roads (India, 2010), is suffering with the burden of road traffic injuries. India’s agony on the increasing road fatalities has never seen to have found a way out. India’s young, productive population, aged 18-45 years are involved in 70% of road accidents, according to data from road accidents in India 2018 (Salve, 2019). To such a situation, the earlier Motor Vehicle Act 1988 was not sufficient; something stronger to control this vast population was required. So keeping in mind, that people fear more the loss of their money rather than their lives, the Indian government recently put forward the Motor Vehicle Amendment Act (2019), which very specifically increases the fines for the violations of traffic rules and procedures.

The bill clearly states, DON’T VIOLATE, DON’T PAY. The new motor vehicle act has indeed been a revolutionary step towards reducing road accidents and for providing better safety. Heavy penalties have been imposed and affected the juveniles. The bill promises an increase in respite given to the accident victim in case of death as well as grievous hurt. Cashless treatment of road accident victims during the golden hour is to be given. The bill promises to reduce the scope of corruption and manipulation in transport departments. In brief, the bill mainly focuses on issues relating to road safety, improving transport facilities, strengthening rural transport, automation, and computerization of all the services.

But the main issue what the Bill is facing presently is its implementation in the country as a whole.

Different states on Motor Vehicle Amendment Bill 2019:

1.      West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are some of the first few states that asked to review the Act and rejected to implement due to high fines. Rajasthan government said that it will not implement the ‘impractical law’ citing steep fines.

2.      Mamata Banerjee said, ‘Stiff fines are too harsh on people, we are not implementing the amended act because our government officials are at an opinion that it will be a huge burden on the people.’

3.      Gujarat became the first state to revise penalties and reduce in almost 90% in certain cases.

4.      Jharkhand transport minister said that the fines under the new rules are exorbitant and the abrupt implementation could lead to a lot of despair among citizens. (desk, 2019)

Not everything is perfect, so is this bill, where is it lacking then?

1.      While the focus has been on enhanced penalties, the more significant shifts and transformation that the act seeks to bring through system-related reforms have been largely sidelined and grossly understated.

2.      As the central government has developed a scheme to compensate the less privileged road accident victims (as per government norms), so this fund for compensation will be levied as loan/grant by the Union government. But there is already a fund existing for compensation so the rationale and clear picture for a new one is still unclear.

3.      The time gap between enacting this act and ruling the act as an amendment was so less that it created chaos among people, which related to law and order breach in some states.

4.      This has been mentioned that the monetary penalties for violating rules in the scheme during an accident will be avoided and will be given interim relief to the victim. But there is no clear mention of offences those would warrant such penalties.

5.      As of now the state government determine guidelines for plying of taxis. But as per the new act, this will be carried out by state government as per central government guidelines. So there may be a tussle of power between state and union which will lead to corruption. The question still remains how it can be implemented effectively in the state authorities.

6.      Many people in India are not having access to the internet or they don’t have computer/electronic gadgets either. The new Motor Vehicle Act issues a compulsory questionnaire at the DL office, in which they provide a few seconds per questions. The illiterate/ English-ignorant sections of the society fail to answer and the result of which is a failure in getting a Driving License.

7.      Inadequate number of RTO offices, the incompetent staff at RTO, less public redressal and information mechanism at RTO are creating havoc.

Now the question is, do all accidents occur because of rash driving and not wearing helmets? Is the system right? Will the amended act implement effectively?

 If we look into that:

1.      Accidents occur not only due to traffic law violations and error by drivers. Bad roads and pavements, corrupt traffic regulators, insufficient public transport system, chocked stormwater drains, mindless growth of the cities, all of these result in an accident. In Mumbai, the top court had earlier too raised the issue of deaths in accidents due to potholes on roads. “Who is to maintain the roads? Are the people supposed to maintain them,” the bench asked? (Hindu, 2018) 

2.      Most pavements are dangerous with uneven surfaces, protruding rods, chords and slabs, and the good portions are occupied by commercial operators. Hence pedestrians have nowhere to walk.

3.      Bribes are often demanded in situations where road users have committed an offense such as speeding, overloading or driving unlicensed or non roadworthy vehicles.

4.      Certificates of roadworthiness are issued without the said vehicles undergoing the necessary tests.

5.      Car sellers often attempt to bribe examiners to overlook a certain component or else to push through a marginal case.

6.      The exponential rise in the number of vehicle purchases in the last two years has put a huge burden on the regional transport office. Like the Pune regional transport office (RTO), one of the top most revenue-generating offices in the state, is suffering from staff crunch. Sanjay Rout, deputy RTO said, ‘The state government has to take decisions to recruit officers for the vacant posts. Despite repeated letters sent to the sent to the state government from the RTO office, the posts continue to remain vacant.

7.      Testing infrastructure and standards of motor vehicles have no change. There’s a lot to be done in this area/safety, environment/liability/warranty/performance regulations need to be improved.

8.      The golden hour facility to provide cashless treatment can only be availed if the victim is helped through to reach within the golden hour. As it is mainly seen that due to late timing many people die before they reach the hospital.

9.      The funds given to the state for a road built up goes into the pockets of corrupt officials and the system remains ineffective.

What does the government have to do on their part?

1.      Proper planning, both the centre and the state government have to work out.

2.      Transparency in the working of the system is very necessary. People tend to respect what they can understand clearly.

3.      Vehicle manufactures should update their technologies.

4.      Unprecedented the pace of construction and infrastructure improvement is one more link in the journey to safer roads.

5.      According to the amendment,

‘Section 12 of the Motor Vehicle Act, after subsection 4, the following subsections shall be inserted, namely:

“(5) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other provision, where any school or establishment has been accredited by a body notified by the Central Government under any other law for the time being in force, any person who has successfully completed a training module at such school or establishment covering a particular type of motor vehicle shall be eligible to obtain a driving licence for such type of motor vehicle.

So accordingly the government should look into how there is no corruption and only by giving money, the people should not get away with a Driving licence. And the people who are capable should not be forced to face any problems while issuing driving licences.

6.      Balancing this huge population and the vehicles can only be done if the government looks into the need of officials and traffic police.

7.      Traffic regulation is not just a requirement in the cities, it is the same for the village areas or underdeveloped areas, where firstly, infrastructure, a road built up, technologies, everything is down. Who will be liable if a person dies in a pothole? The government needs to look into this very seriously.

To conclude, this amendment is a great initiative, only if the public works with the government and the government promises to what it has proposed. Looking into what is lacking is the main thing what the situation needs now. And very importantly the spirit with what the act started, three months ago dishearteningly seems to come down. It’s easier to amend but very hard to implement. Safety rules are painful, but not as painful as an accident.