PANAJI
Tighten your seat belts if you want to take off behind the wheel on Goan roads from April 1 as the new Motor Vehicle Act, 2019, with stringent measures and enhanced fines for errant driving is set to be implemented.
On Saturday, Transport Director Rajan Satardekar issued a public notice in local newspapers forewarning that the amended provisions of the MV Act, are being implemented with effect from April 1.
Satardekar also listed in the public notice some of the common driving offences and the fines they entail on being compounded which are nearly 10 times more than the existing penalties.
Riding two-wheelers without using safety headgear (helmet) or triple seat will now cost the offender Rs 1,000 as against the existing Rs 200. In addition, the driving licence is liable to be suspended for three months.
Driving your car without fastening the seat belt will also cost the offender Rs 1,000 in fines while the penalty for driving an uninsured vehicle is Rs 2000.
For over-speeding, the offence which earlier entailed a fine of Rs 100 will now be Rs 1,000 for the first offence for cars and Rs 2,000 for other bigger vehicles.
A fine of Rs 5,000 has been stipulated for taking part in motor vehicles race or trial of speed of any kind in any public place. The second such offence will entail a fine of Rs 10,000.
A Rs 10,000 fine is also entailed for failure to allow free passage to emergency vehicles like ambulance and fire service vehicle. Sounding the horn needlessly will attract a fine of Rs 500 for the first offence and Rs 1,000 for subsequent offences.
Although these amended rules and enhanced fines in the MV Act were to come into force from January 1, 2020, a special concession was made for Goa, where commuters raised the argument of poor condition of roads due to the ongoing expansion of highway works.
In April last year, the Goa government had also decided to represent before the Centre to permit it to defer implementation and a joint representation along with some other States was also made. The representation had also sought rationalisation of the high penalties.
