If a child is killed by a speeding vehicle, the driver will have to pay a fine of Rs 3 lakh and face seven years' imprisonment. Those caught driving "dangerously" with children on board would lose their licence, be slapped with a fine of Rs 15,000 and even face imprisonment. Being caught without a helmet may leave your purse lighter by Rs 2,500 and using a mobile phone while driving, anything from Rs 4,000 to Rs 10,000 depending on the frequency of violations.
The draft Bill, which was posted online on Saturday for public comments, also proposes high penalty of Rs 5 lakh on automobile companies who release faulty vehicles into the market. Auto dealers who deliver a vehicle without a registration number may end up paying a fine of Rs 1 lakh. To check drunken driving, the draft Bill proposes fines between Rs 15,000 and Rs 50,000 depending on the percentage of alcohol detected in the blood. These offences would also invite imprisonment for six months to two years. In the case of school bus drivers, the fine would be as high as Rs 50,000 with a jail term up to three years.
"These provisions have been made considering the three main reasons behind road crashes and fatalities - speeding, drunken driving and refusal to wear seat belts and helmets," said a road transport ministry official.
In a first, the road transport ministry has also proposed setting up of one central agency — on the lines of National Highway Traffic Safety Authority (NHTSA) in the US - which will be responsible for a whole range of traffic issues such as setting norms for the issue of driving licences and vehicle registration, vehicle safety, robust data collection and multi-disciplinary crash investigation.
"All these years road safety was an orphan issue because no single agency owned responsibility. Countries that have brought down road deaths significantly have created a nodal agency. Once this body comes into place there will be unified coordinated effort involving the states and the Centre," a road ministry official said.
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