Mumbai: Drivers of transport vehicles warned, reckless & drunk driving to become NBOs

Drivers of transport service vehicles who engage in reckless or drunk driving will be slapped with non-bailable cases under a new government initiative.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde directed officials of concerned departments to draft legislation to this effect at a meeting on Monday.

There has been a significant rise in the number of accidents and deaths involving transport service vehicles. In 2021 alone 9,829 people lost lives in 20,860 accidents.

Measures to tame transport vehicles and bring down the number of accidents and fatalities were discussed at the review meeting, which included officials from the police and transport department, at the Sahyadri State Guest House.

Motor Vehicles Act to be amended soon

The state will soon ask the Union government to amend the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, to make reckless and drunk driving of transport vehicles a non-bailable offence all over the country, the Chief Minister’s Office said after the meeting.

Shinde also reviewed the security measures being implemented on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway and the Samruddhi Corridor in order to bring down the numbers of accidents.

Rumblers will soon be added along steep slopes on these roads, as an additional measure to control speeding vehicles, a CMO official said.