SHILLONG: The amended Motor Vehicle Act, which was passed by Parliament recently, came into effect in the state from Monday.
A police official said that the state police received the notification from the government last week, but it could not be implemented because of the weekend.
The new Act has enhanced the penalties for violation of traffic regulations and takes strong exceptions to offences by juveniles and those committed by the enforcing authorities.
For offences by juveniles, the penalty will be as high as Rs 25,000 while for those committed by the enforcing authorities it will be double the penalty corresponding to the offence.
As per the Act, in case of dangerous driving, first-time offenders will face imprisonment of six months to one year and/or fine between Rs 1,000 and Rs 5,000. For the second offence, the offender will be imprisoned for up to two years and/or fine of up to Rs 10,000.
In case of drunken driving, imprisonment will be up to six months and/or fine of up to Rs 10,000 for the first offence. For the second offence, the prison term will extend up to two years and/or fine of Rs 15,000.
Allowing unauthorised person to drive vehicle and driving without license will attract penalty of Rs 5,000, up from Rs 1,000 in the earlier Act. Penalty for over-speeding has been enhanced to Rs 1,000. In case of light motor vehicles it will be Rs 2,000. For medium passenger or goods vehicles and subsequent offence, the penalty can be between Rs 2,000 and Rs 4,000.
For offences like jumping red light, violating stop sign, using mobile phone while driving, overtaking at ‘no overtaking zone’ etc would invite penalties of Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 for the first and second time.
Driver or passenger without seatbelt, carrying children below 14 years without safety belt/child restraint system and rising more than two persons on two-wheelers will attract fines of Rs 1,000.
Riding without helmets by driver and pillion rider will lead to penalty of Rs 1000 and using horns needlessly or continuously in prohibited areas will attract penalty of Rs 1000 for the first time and Rs 2000 for the second offence.
For transport vehicles, carrying excess passengers would lead to penalty of Rs 200 per extra passenger.
Penalty for overloading goods vehicles has been hiked too with the new charges being Rs 20,000 and Rs 2000 per extra ton up from Rs 2000 and Rs 1000 per extra ton, respectively.
