Keep Out of Trouble: Here Are Some New Traffic Laws That You Need to Know!

According to data released by the Transport Ministry in 2017, the use of mobile phones while driving claimed 2,138 lives in 2016.

Keeping this in mind, the government of India along with the traffic police of states is developing new traffic laws, which have been worked upon by the R&D teams of each state.

All these efforts are being put in place to improve road safety and promote road discipline and ultimately, reduce the occurrence of such fatal incidents.

As reported in the Financial Express, most of these laws focus on the usage of mobile phones while a few others are for small wrongdoings.

Here are the updated laws:

1) In Uttarakhand, if you are caught driving while on the phone, traffic cops can not only seize your license but also your mobile phone.

The Nainital High Court has authorised the police to confiscate the mobile phones of people, who are found to be driving while speaking on the phone, for at least 24 hours, after issuing a valid receipt.

2) The Rajasthan High Court, headed by the Jodhpur bench, will now cancel your driving license if you are caught breaking the laws of the road; especially if you are caught on the mobile phone.

The Regional Transport Office (RTO) now has the full right to cancel the license as soon as the photos of the offenders are forwarded to the respective RTO.

3) Video streaming websites have made it popular for drivers to stream content, and watch it on their mobile phones.

However, they have also resulted in many of them getting distracted while on the job which has resulted in many accidents.

The new motor vehicle act which will soon be implemented across India plans to deal with these errant drivers and resolve this issue.

To begin with, the government plans to double the fine and impound the vehicle in severe cases.

4) Serious measures have been taken against the use of loud silencers in motorcycles, in cities like Pune and Bengaluru, and cities in Punjab. The police have now been directed that such motorcycles, especially Royal Enfields with illegal and loud silencers, can be impounded.

5) You can be slapped with a fine of up to Rs 2000 if you block, or park in front of any rescue vehicle like an ambulance, fire truck or a police vehicle.

6) The last change in law is that, with the exception of overspeeding, you cannot be fined twice for the same law you broke. However, this won’t be applicable if you lose the receipt for the first offence and have crossed the state border.

(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)

Hey, you may also like: Karnataka Budget: 5 Things the State Has Planned To Fix Bengaluru’s Traffic

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