End To New Traffic Rules Relaxation, Strict Enforcement Across Odisha From Tomorrow

Bhubaneswar: The six-month relaxation, which the Odisha government had allowed citizens to ready the required vehicle documents before enforcing the amended Motor Vehicle Act 2019 with stricter norms and heftier fines, ended on Saturday.

The last day also saw people queuing up at the RTO offices for learners’ licence (LL), driving licence (DL) and other vehicle-related documents.

While some hoped for relaxation of one more month, others felt that the government had given enough time to comply with the guidelines.

The government had relaxed the enforcement of the new traffic rules for three months in September last year and then extended it by as many months on November 28 in view of heavy rush at RTO offices across the state.

The State Transport Authority has asked district Collectors, SPs and Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) to carry out strict enforcement against life-threatening road safety violations like drunken driving, exceeding the speed limit, red light jumping, driving against the flow of traffic, using cellphone while driving, triple riding, dangerous driving, not wearing helmet or seat belt and overloading.

Besides drunken driving, they have been asked to also focus on underage driving and overloading in vehicles, carrying school children.

Here’s a recap of the fines under the new Motor Vehicle Act 2019:

Drunken driving – Rs 10,000
Not wearing helmet – Rs 1000
Not wearing seat belt – Rs 1000
Over speeding – Rs 5000
Wrong side driving – Rs 5000
Dangerous driving – Rs 5000
Jumping red light – Rs 5000
Triple riding on two-wheeler – Rs 1000

In January, Transport Minister Padmanabh Behera had said that helmet will now be mandatory for pillion riders and strong action will be taken against the defaulters.

Seat belt for persons travelling in a four-wheeler will also be made compulsory, he said, adding that the drive against traffic violations will be intensified from March 1.