[TusharK]

The government has proposed a series of measures to increase the recovery of traffic fines and penalize drivers for non-compliance. As per new draft rules, driving licenses could be suspended for non-payment of traffic e-challans.



Vehicle owners will be required to settle traffic e-challans within 3 months or face suspension. Drivers who have accumulated three challans for jumping a red signal or dangerous driving in a financial year could see their licenses suspended for at least 3 months.

The proposal also calls for the linking of insurance premiums with traffic e-challans. If a driver has two or more pending challans from the previous financial year, he/she might have to pay a higher insurance premium.

According to reports, out of all the e-challans issued, barely 40% of the amount is recovered. Delhi has the lowest rate of recovery at 14%, followed by Karnataka at 21% and Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh at 27% each. Maharashtra and Haryana have the highest recovery rate of 62-76%.

Source: ET Auto

Link to Team-BHP News

[Axe77]

An imperfect system of course, because auto generated challans (like from fixed cams etc) automatically link the challan to the license of the car owner and not the actual driver. I have had multiple cases where the challan in question is actually while my driver is at the wheel and not me.

Also, not sure how this will work in cases where the car is registered to a body corporate or similar non individual owner.

Finally, without the political will to chase down vehicles with illegible system (which simply don’t get picked up for camera tracked offenses), this is again something that will disproportionately single out those of us who are running proper legit plates on our cars.

[Hayek]

Ridiculous idea - would probably be unconstitutional as well unless there is proof about who was driving the car. The E Challan system itself is flawed - with only cars being punished while two wheeler riders get away riding on the wrong side of the road. There is no proof about who was driving a car. And linking premiums to fines is not the government’s business - if private insurers want to do it individually, that is their call - but if they cartelise to implement this at an industry level, they can and should be sued under the competition act.

[LongDrives]

I have a doubt here.

The car is mine, but someone else is driving my car. There are multiple offences for wrongful parking and signal jumping where the picture of the driver is not captured. Still will I as a owner be impounded and can I be punished for the offences? Will it be my responsibility to declare the person at fault?

[thanixravindran]

Originally Posted by Hayek

Ridiculous idea - would probably be unconstitutional as well unless there is proof about who was driving the car. The E Challan system itself is flawed - with only cars being punished while two wheeler riders get away riding on the wrong side of the road. There is no proof about who was driving a car. And linking premiums to fines is not the government’s business - if private insurers want to do it individually, that is their call - but if they cartelise to implement this at an industry level, they can and should be sued under the competition act.

I see this is a welcome move except that RC of vehicle should be suspended instead of Owners DL.

Driver: Even if the driver (paid or unpaid) is responsible for the dangerous driving like jumping a red light, the accountability is with the owner of vehicle. They can recover it from the driver or fire them from the job.

2 wheeler Vs 4 wheeler: Why is this even an argument. If you break the rule in 4 wheeler, get caught by E challan, pay it. If you think 2 wheelers are getting away from e-challan system, one has the option to move from car to bike.

Insurance: Third party premium which is mandatory and is fixed by Government as per vehicle class. They can very well analyze the traffic fines of each vehicle and increase the third party cover. Most people won't renew the third party insurance. If you don't renew, automaticalky suspend the RC making driving it is illegal.

I don't see anything unconstitutional here provided all these are properly discussed and MV act is amended to make the system effective.

PS: In reality, nothing of the above will happen and chaos will continue to prevail.

[svsantosh]

The better way is to fine the vehicle plate/registration plate. And implement a yearly or once in 2 years fitness + compliance check of the car, pull up the fines in the system else cancel the RC book of the car. I saw that system in UAE and it works like a charm.

11 months do anything you want with the car, 12th month, esp the last 2 weeks block you calendar for 2 days without car, service it, clean all leaks, check and fix the tyres, go to the National app (like mParivahan) and clear all your dues/parking fines/speeding fines.

But for that, the system should be overhauled inside out.

[drsachin]

There is another problem here. 3 months is too short a time. I pay all my geniune challans. Most of these are for over speeding. In Delhi NCR roads different roads have different speeds limits so it's very confusing at times.

But I have received challans where I am not at fault. In these cases i don't pay my challans. Later these challans are sent to ecourt/Regular court after 3-4 months. It's here I challange those through my lawyer.

So in case they start suspending licences after non payment of challans within 3months then they will take away my right to contest my challans.

Many people also get their challans settle through lok Adalats. It's here you can challenge if you feel challan was unfair. But these lok Adalats are very infrequent. Atleast they don't happen every 3months.

There is another issue.

This will surely be misused by rowdy traffic police personnel. Who will use scare tactics to force you to pay bribes. In Delhi NCR such policemen are very common. For example in delhi most policemen regularly play what I call a "No Entry /wrong side " scam. They always stand at the end of No Entry or wrong entry. And invariable the No entry or wrong entry board os hidden behind some tree. In these cases I never pay challans and later settle these in the court.

I think most Delhi NCR people are used to these stupid challans but they wait for lok Adalats or ecourt ls to settle challans. That's probably the reason the challan collection rate is poor in delhi ncr

[Sebring]

Somebody was using my car number on his and generated huge fines. I'm surely the victim in this case, and with no recourse.

[saikishor]

Such policies are best suited only for theory, they will make no sense in practical. There will be so many pending fines and many licenses lost. Instead, put some sort of discount for the fines(like they do in Telangana) and see people clear their dues. After this if people still dont clear off fines, then maybe take such measures on the remaining defaulters.

I owe 4 thousand rupees in challans to the police, and am waiting for something like a discount to happen. In the meantime, if I get stopped by a police, I have no option but to pay.

Sorry for going off topic, but such cancellation schemes will simply not work in a country where cops and this traffic system is so disintegrated with no 100% functioning.

[TG208011]

I want to use certain words which are allowed on TeamBHP but which Government will not like, and seeing the recent events, that is reason enough to just steer away from that language, so I will try to just put down my opinion on this without offending our honourable policy makers too much.

These *super intelligent and competent* policy makers want to treat India like a first world country, but the harsh reality is, India’s isn’t one. These strict traffic laws are fair only when the entire population follows them.

To elaborate on this, let me list down 2 which are very messed up for a disciplined car driver. I am talking about a Tier-2 city here, with traffic lights which sometimes work, ‘sometimes’ being the key word here.

1. Imagine following a traffic light on a busy intersection and stopping when the signal is red, while the unlicensed e-rickshaws and auto drivers honk at you, look at you as if you are in the wrong, even other motorists honking at you and just expecting you to break traffic rules if according to them, there is enough space in front of you to mindlessly weave though the intersection. How often are you willing to put up with this? What if this is your daily route?

2. Many a times, the traffic lights which sometimes signals one thing, while a traffic cop signals another thing, now who do you follow? I guess you should follow the cop here, but what about the automated cameras issuing challans? Are they programmed to take this into account?


There are many such situations where the disciplined car driver is not in the wrong but is challaned anyway, and with the government hiking challan rates for red light jumping to ridiculous amounts, what is a regular commuter supposed to do?

These *honest and not at all selfish* policy makers do not crack down on these idiotic e-rickshaw and auto drivers, because that might cost them the next elections, taking away jobs from them, so they just pretend as if these idiots are not the reason for a vast majority of the daily chaos and stress disciplined drivers encounter everyday on Indian roads.

I get that they are trying to discourage bad driving through these strict challans, but without properly ensuring that these laws are followed by each and every user of the roads (not just private cars and 2-wheelers), these laws will just hurt disciplined drivers, especially in non tier-1 cities.

I can keep ranting about this but I realise I have already babbled quite a lot, and a lot of this comment is only loosely related to this thread. Thanks for reading through this all.

[It's Magic]

Originally Posted by TusharK

Vehicle owners will be required to settle traffic e-challans within 3 months or face suspension.

It might look very good on paper, but it raises more questions than answers.

What happens if you receive a challan late, or never receive it at all? This happened to me a few years ago when I suddenly received a challan message with an e-challan generation date from several months prior. Additionally, is it easier to get a license reactivated quickly once I pay my dues? In an ideal world, it should automatically trigger the reactivation of the license as soon as the fine is paid.

I also don't think the person driving the vehicle at the time the challan was issued matters much here (of course, cases of vehicle theft or someone using your number plate are different). As it's your vehicle, you are liable to pay the fine for it.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by TusharK

Maharashtra and Haryana have the highest recovery rate of 62-76%.

First time I received a speeding fine in MH. I got the SMS after 9 months Good luck paying that in 3 months.

[Small Bot]

Originally Posted by It's Magic

What happens if you receive a challan late, or never receive it at all?

Originally Posted by narayans80

First time I received a speeding fine in MH. I got the SMS after 9 months Good luck paying that in 3 months.

Exactly. I got an SMS more than three months later for a speeding charge on East Coast Road. How fair is it if I'm already late right at the moment when I get the stupid challan?

Good intentions, but poor and incompetent implementation will damn this idea.

[fspeed100]

It’s honestly absurd. My car’s registered under my wife’s name, but she doesn’t even have a driver’s license. So if there’s a pending challan, how on earth are they going to connect my license to a car that’s in her name? Makes no sense!

Moreover, I’m not sure how it works in other states, but over here in Assam, if you’ve got any pending e-challans, you can forget about getting a PUCC. You’ve got to clear those e-challans first before they’ll let you get a PUCC.

[It's Magic]

Originally Posted by fspeed100

My car’s registered under my wife’s name, but she doesn’t even have a driver’s license. So if there’s a pending challan, how on earth are they going to connect my license to a car that’s in her name?

You've got an interesting scenario here. If the car is registered in your wife's name and she doesn't even hold a driving license, I don't think the given rule would apply in your case. However, in the event of pending challans, notifications would be sent to the phone number registered against your car on the Vahan portal. If it's your wife's number, she will receive the notification.