The Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Act is seen making a significant impact in Bihar. According to reports, the State transport department on Friday has claimed that the people wearing helmets while riding two-wheelers have comparatively increased after the enforcement of the newly amended Act. In Patna, the percentage of the two-wheelers riders wearing helmets has increased from 80% to 98%. Whereas, in other districts, it has increased from 35% to 75%, as rep.

Significant impact

Reportedly, Transport Secretary of Patna said, "There has been a sharp rise in a number of people wearing helmets in Patna and elsewhere in the state. As many as 98% of people in Patna wears helmets now. During the morning hours, the number of people wearing helmets is about 90% while in the day time it is 95%. Similarly, the percentage of people wearing helmets in other districts has also increased to 75%." He also added, "Due to the increase in the penalty from Rs 100 to Rs 1,000 on motorists not wearing helmets according to the new Motor Vehicle Act, the people have started wearing helmets in order to avoid hefty fines."

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Fine faced by others according to the new tariff rules

Earlier, Gurugram’s Dinesh Madan was fined a sum of Rs 23,000 for not following the traffic rules in the national capital region (NCR). He was traveling without a registration certificate and helmet when he was charged for the violations. Delhi has so far issued 3,900 challans after the Motor Vehicle Amendment Bill 2019 became active. The issues have been made as per the new motor vehicle law. 

READ | Odisha Truck Driver Fined Rs 86,500 For Several Traffic Violations

On September 3, a truck driver named Ashok Jadav was fined Rs 86,500 for several traffic rule violations in Odisha. According to Sambalpur's Regional Transport Officer Lalit Mohan Behera, Jadav was penalised for allowing an unauthorised person to drive (Rs 5,000), driving without a license (Rs 5,000), overloading with an excess of 18 tonnes (Rs 56,000), carrying over dimension projections (Rs 20,000) and general offense (Rs 500) After negotiating with the authorities for more than 5 hours, the driver paid a fine of Rs 70,000. 

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Amendments to the Motor Vehicles Act 

The amendments were implemented on September 1, 2019, which aim to tighten road traffic regulations and impose a stricter fine for violations in an attempt to improve road safety and encourage traffic discipline. The amendments introduced penalties for traffic rule violations which were not penalised until now. This included, not providing a way for emergency vehicles, overloading of passengers and offenses by juveniles. Along with this, the fines for a variety of other traffic rule violations have been increased multi-fold. This includes drunken driving, over speeding, driving without a license, helmets and seat belts, amongst others.

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