A law for safer roads

The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill 2016 passed by the Lok Sabha gives teeth to the authorities to weed out several bad practices in issuing licences, lends clarity to third-party insurance and regulates taxi aggregators, a vital reform in today’s public transport scenario thanks to app-based cabs. These are much needed to control vehicles and drivers, but more significantly the amended law aims to do wonders for road safety in a country with one of the world’s highest accident rates, perhaps the highest if calculated on the basis of traffic density.

By giving the traffic police powers to levy much steeper fines for violations, that can be further enhanced by up to 10 times if states so wish, the new rules promise to be a real deterrent. The question is whether the police will use these rules fairly to ensure compliance and safer roads, or merely see it as an opportunity to earn more in bribes. It’s well known that policemen pay officials and politicians hefty sums to get “lucrative” postings, then justify graft as a means to recover their “investment”.

People may think twice before driving under the influence as penalties are stiff, and rightly so, as alcohol may be a leading cause of highway accidents. The new law offers a real chance to bring discipline to a wide array of road users with little regard for others. Also, Good Samaritans who come to the rescue of accident victims won’t face police harassment henceforth. In all, a good set of rules, even if there was a delay in framing them.