Due to pressure from some leaders and the general public, the Karnataka government, on Saturday, has revised traffic penalties and reduced the fines imposed by the new Motor Vehicles Amendments Act  by 50-80%. However, the penalties for drunken driving and racing have been kept as is. The revised fines have come into immediate effect from Sunday.

CM spoke to the transport Minister

Additional Commissioner of Police BR Ravikante Gowda said that the list of the revised fines has been sent to all the 44 police stations in the city. The move came a week after Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa had spoken to the transport minister Laxman Savadi and had asked him to look into the matter.

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Revised fines show a 50-80% decline

As per the revised fines, a passenger travelling helmetless would have to pay Rs. 500 against Rs. 1000 that was earlier notified by the centre. Additionally, driving without a license would now be compensated with a fine of Rs. 1000 for two and three-wheelers and Rs 2000 for other light motor vehicles. This comes against the Rs. 5000 fine that was earlier put on all the vehicles.

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However, the state government has not revised fines for any of the serious offences. Offences, such as drunken driving, driving even after the disqualification of licence, and carrying excessive passenger load on the vehicle continue to garner heavy penalties.

The new fines that were put up for offences after the Motor Vehicle Act was revised by the government attracted a lot of criticism from the government leaders and the general public alike. The opposition party Congress had also opposed the move.

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The high fines also led to some positive changes too as over five lakh people got their pollution under control certificates and thousands applied for a licence, just within two weeks.

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