Road Accidents Decrease By 10% In 5 Months, Effect of Increased Challan Rates?

The new Motor Vehicles Act (ammendment) was passed five months ago. The new regulations are showing a positive effect on the road accident rate which has been dropped by ten per cent compared to five months ago.

Motor Vehicles Act was implemented since September 2019 

The new Motor Vehicles Act was implemented in states across India. Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways has reported to the Parliament on this Monday that the number of road accidents has been reduced by 12 to 14 per cent in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, and Chandigarh compared to that of September 2019, the month the new MV Act was enforced. The Minister also revealed related data collected from 12 states as well as union territories in Rajya Sabha.

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As per the revealed data, from September 2019 to January 2020, Delhi and Haryana showed an improvement with 1.8 per cent and 1 per cent reduction in road accidents, respectively. On the other hand, the states of Assam and Kerala showed a reverse tendency with 7.2 per cent and 4.9 per cent increase, respectively, during the same period of time. In Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Manipur, the new MV Act demonstrates a better result with a 5.4, 4.7, 6.4 and 3.4 per cent decrease, respectively.

After five months, the road accident number was lowered significantly 

In 2018, it is calculated that 4,67,044 accidents occurred in Indian roads, which have taken the lives of over 1,50,000 people. According to the World Road Statistics, India has the highest number of people dying from road accidents out of 199 countries. In another report by WHO on global road safety in 2018, road accidents taking place in India accounts for 11 per cent of total road accidents across the globe.

The amended Motor Vehicle Act 2019 which imposes stricter penalties for traffic law violation is expected to lower the number of road accidents in India and make Indian roads safer. One of the changes is to increase the fine for drunken driving from Rs 2,000 to Rs 10,000. The driver who is not wearing a seat belt will be fined Rs 1,000 instead of Rs 100 as in the previous regulation. Riding an overloaded two-wheeler will be levied a fine of Rs 20,000 along with disqualifying of driver license for three months.