Traffic Fines:The Motor Vehicle Act has been significantly updated and the traffic fines have been exponentially increased too. Higher penalties for traffic violations came into effect from September 1, 2019, as the Central Government planned to implement provisions of the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019.

“Higher penalties for traffic violations are being issued for the public interest. Increased penalties will help in reducing accidents as people will become more cautious. Moreover, the existing fines are decades-old which are required to change,” said Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari in a media briefing.

 In some cases, the fines have been increased by up to 10 times. If one is caught driving without license, the earlier fine was ₹ 500 and now the proposed fine is ₹ 5,000. Similarly, if you are caught drinking and driving, you will be fined ₹ 10,000 instead of ₹ 2,000 which is the current norm. The bill also proposes that the amount of traffic violation fines should be increased at the rate of 10 per cent per year.

The Union Minister also informed the media that the Centre is working towards improving the quality of roads and the engineering used in constructing it.

He also told media persons that the increased penalties have been fixed keeping a special focus on drunken driving, overloading, riding without a helmet, driving without a license and other common traffic violations.


Apart from an increased penalty on traffic rules such as over-speeding, drunk driving, driving without helmet, among others, the over two dozen clauses also include provisions pertaining to driving licenses, vehicle registration, national transport policy, among others.

The bill reduces the validity of the driving license from the current 20 years to just 10 years. Those renewing their licenses between the age of 50 and 55 years will have validity only till 60 years. And those renewing the license after the age of 55, will have validity only of five years. In case of recalls, manufacturers will also have to reimburse buyers with the complete cost of the vehicle in case of a defective model sold, while the government could levy a fine of up to Rs 500 crores in such a scenario.

List of Increased Traffic Fines



  • For General Offence (177),
    • Old Penalty – Rs 100
    • New Penalty – Rs 500 (minimum)
  • For Rules of road regulation violation (new 177A),
    • Old Penalty – Rs 100
    • New Penalty – Rs 500 (minimum)
  • For Travelling without a ticket (178),
    • Old Penalty – Rs 200
    • New Penalty – Rs 500 (minimum)
  • For Disobedience of orders of authorities (179),
    • Old Penalty – Rs 500
    • New Penalty – Rs 2,000 (minimum)
  • For Unauthorized use of vehicles without a license (180),
    • Old Penalty – Rs 1,000
    • New Penalty – Rs 5,000 (minimum)
  • For driving without a license (181),
    • Old Penalty – Rs 500
    • New Penalty – Rs 5,000 (minimum)
  • For Driving without qualification (182),

  • Old Penalty – Rs 500
  • New Penalty – Rs 10,000 (minimum)
  • For Oversized vehicles (182B),
    • Old Penalty – New Rule
    • New Penalty – Rs 5,000 (minimum)
  • For Over speeding (183),
    • Old Penalty – Rs 1,000
    • New Penalty – Rs 1,000 for LMV, Rs 2,000 for Medium Passenger Vehicle
  • For Dangerous driving penalty (184),
    • Old Penalty – Rs 1,000
    • New Penalty – Up to Rs 5,000 
  • For Drunken driving (185),
    • Old Penalty – Rs 2,000
    • New Penalty – Rs 10,000 (minimum)
  • For Speeding/ Racing (189),
    • Old Penalty – Rs 500
    • New Penalty – Rs 5,000 (minimum)
  • For Vehicle without a permit (192A), 
    • Old Penalty – Up to Rs 5,000
    • New Penalty – Up to Rs 10,000 
  • For Aggregators (violations of licensing conditions) (193),
    • Old Penalty – New Rule
    • New Penalty – From Rs 25,000 to Rs 1,00,000
  • For Overloading (194),
    • Old Penalty – Rs 2,000, and Rs 1,000 per extra tonne
    • New Penalty – Rs 20,000, and Rs 2,000 per extra tonne
  • For Overloading of Passengers (194A),
    • Old Penalty – NIL
    • New Penalty – Rs 1,000 per extra passenger
  • For Seat Belt (194 B),
    • Old Penalty – Rs 100
    • New Penalty – Rs 1,000 (minimum)
  • For Overloading of two-wheelers (194 C),
    • Old Penalty – Rs 100
    • New Penalty – Rs 2,000 and  Disqualification of license for 3 months
  • For Not providing a way for emergency vehicles (194E),
    • Old Penalty – New Rule
    • New Penalty – Rs 10,000 (minimum)
  • For Driving without insurance (196),
    • Old Penalty – Rs 1,000
    • New Penalty – Rs 2,000 (minimum)
  • For Offences by Juveniles (199),
    • Old Penalty – New Rule
    • New Penalty – Guardian/ Owner shall be deemed guilty. Rs 25,000 with 3 years imprisonment. Juvenile to be tried under the JJ Act. Registration of Motor Vehicle to be canceled.
  • For Power of officers to impound documents (206),
    • Old Penalty – NIL
    • New Penalty – Suspension of driving licence under sections 183, 184, 185, 189, 190, 194C, 194D, 194E
  • For Offences committed by enforcing authorities (210B),
    • Old Penalty – NIL
    • New Penalty – Twice the penalty under the relevant section