Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has expressed disappointment over the frequent violation of traffic rules. He also said that how many times can the government increase the amount of fines. He says that people also need to change their behavior. The special thing is that in the year 2019, the government had made amendments in the Motor Vehicle Act, which had provisions for heavy fines and penalties.
According to media reports, while addressing the World Safety Conference, Gadkari said, “We are using technology to enforce traffic rules. We have increased the fines on violations, but it is not yielding any results because people are not taking them seriously. How much can we increase the fines? This is a problem. It can be solved by changing human behavior.”
The changes in the Act in 2019 also do not seem to have much effect. According to the Times of India report, cases of violation of traffic and transport rules are increasing. Also, the number of people who lost their lives in road accidents increased from 1.59 lakh in 2019 to 1.68 lakh in 2022. Gadkari says that just enforcing the law will not reduce accidents and deaths.
He said, ‘We are trying to train bus and truck drivers and if they follow road rules, we can reduce road accidents.’
He especially mentioned the change in people’s behavior and talked about educating the public about road safety rules. Regarding the increasing cases of deaths of two-wheeler riders due to not wearing helmets, he said that talks are being held with vehicle manufacturers to provide helmets at a discount. According to a report published in the newspaper, 50 thousand 29 people died in the year 2022 due to not wearing helmets.
