West Bengal increases traffic fines 10 fold, here's why

The West Bengal government recently announced a notable hike in traffic penalties that fell under the amended Motor Vehicles Act. The violators of road safety would now have to pay by up to 10 times more than previous fine.

As per a notification dated January 24, penalties have sought an increase in case of jumping the stop line, driving against the flow of traffic, over-speeding and drunken driving, lacking valid pollution under control certificate, restricting free passage to emergency vehicles, and some more.

Quick look into some of the revised penalties:

General penalty – First offence-fine up to Rs 500, second offence-fine up to Rs 1,500

Travelling without ticket – Fine up to Rs 500

Disobedience of orders of authorities and refusal to give information – Fine up to Rs 2,000

Driving without license – Fine of Rs 5,000

Oversize vehicles – Rs 5,000

Over-speeding – Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000 for LMV; Rs 2,000 to Rs 4,000 for medium passenger or goods vehicles; Second subsequent offence-impounding of driving license

Penalty for dangerous driving – First offence – imprisonment six months to one year and/or fine Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000; Subsequent offence (within three years from first offence)- imprisonment up to two years and/or Rs 10,000

Drunken driving – First offence- fine up to Rs 10,000 and/or imprisonment up to six months; second offece- fine of Rs 3,000 and/or imprisonment up to two years

Why did the West Bengal decide to increase traffic fines?

In November 2021, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had delivered strict instructions on curbing road accidents at the Chingrighata crossing. At an administrative meeting addressing the Bidhannagar and Kolkata police, she had said, “Human lives are very important. I have noticed accidents one after another, accidents which should not have happened. Let’s sit down together and do something about this.”

The state government thus took to stern decision with the aim to reduce the number of road accidents, and this came via increasing traffic violation fines. According to reports, the increase seems to be unsuccessful to its aim with a declining trend in road accidents in Kolkata over the last few years.

As per data procured from Kolkata Traffic Police, 24,87,545 traffic violation cases were registered. In 2019, this number was more than double at 50,13,386, while in 2018, it was 55,67,200.

Back in 2019, when The Motor Vehicles Amendment Act was given a green signal by authorities of about 20 states, Mamata Banerjee had decided that the fines would not be enforced in Bengal - viewing that the new penalties would distress commuters.

Later in a reply, Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, had said, “This isn’t a revenue income scheme, are you not worried about the deaths of 1, 50,000 people?”

On these lines over the current scenario, experts hold a thought that the big jump in traffic fines is aimed at generating revenue for the government, thereby making it to social schemes.