Sir,

The new Motor Vehicles Act prescribing heavy penalties even for minor offences may have been enacted to reduce accidents but it has created widespread anguish and fear because the implementation of this rule leaves much to be desired.

Firstly, here the Police are given huge amount of authority and discretion to implement the rule. As usual they will lurk at some tricky location and catch unsuspecting riders only with an intention to collect fines (at least so far this has been the practice) but you hardly see any Policeman at the traffic signals and main roads where the actual violation of rules happens. Even this morning I saw blatant violation of rules by some two-wheeler riders, possibly minors, in a busy traffic junction bang in front of a Traffic Police Station and there was no one to catch and punish such errant vehicle users.

Secondly, the parking / no parking areas are not demarcated properly and many motorists have no knowledge that they are breaking rules. Police should first mark in clear sign boards all the no parking zones and if required “zero tolerance zones” with timings so that the motorists are forewarned about the consequences of parking in a particular place.

We in Mysuru have somehow got habituated to faint, masked and worn out signs by the Police which are not at all clear. Police use such inadequacies to easily catch hold of people and slap them with heavy penalties.

Thirdly, collecting of fines itself is very authoritarian as one has to cough up huge amount of cash on the spot as otherwise the vehicle is impounded. Why not give the motorists some time to produce documents and also implement payment by credit cards and other means? Why collect cash that is a sure way, or as per the new penalty structure a highway, to corruption? Imagine the cops hauling huge amounts of cash in the night to their homes or to the Police Station after a particularly productive day and then laughing all the way to the bank?

The new rules make the Traffic Police the prosecutor, the jury and the executioner. Even trying to prove that you are innocent could land you into more trouble as the new law makes provision for slapping more fines for “arguing with the Police.”

Certain provision like PUC certificates are very opaque as even a polluting vehicle can get a certificate by “adjusting” with the testing agency whereas a brand new vehicle without a certificate can attract heavy penalties.

Isn’t it time our State Government also follows the Gujarat way by reducing these heavy fines on rational lines, which otherwise can wipe out a family’s monthly income? Can we look forward to reforms in traffic violations booking and punishment so that the genuine riders are spared and can take out their vehicles without anxiety and fear?

– Shivaram Nayak, Hebbal, 11.9.2019

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