While having a growing concern towards the increasing number of traffic accidents and fatalities in the country, the Indian Government has jumped into decision on revising the challan rates in India. The Motor Vehicle (Amended) Act has come into force since September, 2019, which has significantly impacted the traffic scenarios in many states including Kerala. Most of road users are more aware of bringing along the compulsory documents like driving license, insurance, etc. when they ride or drive in the public roads.
However, in a bid to provide a relief to the commuters who had to bear heavy penalties courtesy of the new Motor Vehicle Act since last year, the Government of Kerala has decided to slash the traffic fines to a certain level. People then can breath and relax for a while whenever they drive.
“The fines fixed in the Act as per the proposal of the Government of India are very high and disproportionate to the gravity of offences. Hence, there is large scale public protest in this regard”, said Kerala transport Minister, A.K Saseendran in his letter to the Union Road Transport Minister to request for the flexibility to fix the traffic fines in Kerala.
Now let’s take a look at the traffic fines in Kerala in the table below.
Violations |
Traffic fines under New Motor Vehicle Act |
Reduced fines effective from Oct 24, 2019 |
Speeding Light Motor Vehicle |
Rs 5,000 |
Rs 1,500 |
Driving without helmet |
Rs 1,000 |
Rs 500 |
Racing & Speeding |
Rs 10,000 |
Rs 5,000 |
Speeding Medium Heavy Vehicle |
Rs 5,000 |
Rs 3,000 |
Riding or Driving with handheld mobile phone |
Rs 10,000 |
Rs 2,000 |
Parking Rules and No Parking Fines In India
Apart from the above offences, the Kerala Government has kept these traffic fines untouched ever since it comes into effect from September 2019 after considering the gravity of offences.
Violations |
Traffic fines in Kerala |
Riding/ driving without licence |
Rs 5,000 |
Riding/ driving without ticket |
Rs 500 |
Riding/ driving without insurance |
Rs 2,000 with or without prison sentenced to 3 months (first offence) Rs 4,000 with or without prison sentence to 3 months (second offence) |
Riding/ driving under influence of intoxicating substance, drunk driving |
Up to Rs 10,000 with or without imprisonment to 6 months (first offence) Rs 15,000 with/ without the imprisonment up to 2 years |
Driving without proper mental or physical health |
Rs 1,000 (first offence) Rs 2,000 (second offence) |
Causing obstruction to the flow of traffic |
Rs 500 |
Driving while disqualified to drive |
Rs 10,000 |
Driving with unauthorized use of vehicle |
Rs 5,000 |
As you can see, the traffic fine for drunk driving in Kerala remains unchanged at Rs 10,000 (first offence). The Government of Kerala makes its decision after considering the bad consequences of drunk driving on the public roads. The fine is almost equal to the drunk-driving traffic fines in Bangalore which is located in the state of Karnataka in India.