Repeat offences of rash, reckless driving may soon be non-bailable

Maharashtra proposes to make repeat offences of rash driving, speeding and reckless driving non-bailable, with an FIR to be registered against drivers fined multiple times. The proposal has been sent to the central government.

MUMBAI: Repeat offences of rash driving, speeding and reckless driving may soon be made non-bailable as a proposal in this regard has been sent to the central government, said the Maharashtra transport commissioner on Tuesday

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Vivek L Bhimanwar said the proposal suggested that when a driver is fined multiple times for speeding and reckless driving, an FIR should be registered against the driver and the offence made non-bailable. He was speaking during the launch of a report on speed observations, “Slow Down” by a non-governmental organisation, United Way, along with the Mumbai traffic police and the transport department.

The NGO had taken up 20 black spots — suggested by the traffic police and the transport department and Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay — across the city and studied the speeding patterns of vehicles.

The study, started in 2018, found that out of the 20 spots, only seven had speed limits earmarked and critical road signages such as ‘crash prone spot’ and ‘merging section ahead’ were missing at 11 locations and were inappropriately placed at two locations.

Also, side friction was observed due to illegal road side parking and pedestrians were observed walking on the carriageway at seven locations as the footpaths were encroached.

United Way also found that road /lane markings were absent or faded at 17 locations. There was poor visibility at night at three locations and inadequate road signs were observed at 11 locations. Besides, potential conflict points were observed at merging sections at six locations.

Based on these observations, United Way has come up with recommendations, which have been submitted to the transport department. “The issue of lack of speed limit signs at various spots will be addressed immediately,” said Pravin Padwal, joint commissioner of police (traffic).

According to Padwal, in Mumbai 364 people had died in 2021 in road accidents, which included 44% of pedestrians and 35% of two-wheeler riders and pillion riders after which steps were taken for strict implementation of mandatory helmets for bikers.

“Every month at least 8,000 speeding violations are recorded by the traffic police. In the past three months, at least 242 drunk drivers were penalised after the use of breath analysers was permitted after lifting of Covid restrictions,” said Padwal.

Ajay Govale, project director of United Way, said that these recommendations and its implementation plan will be followed up by the members of Road Safety Advocacy Club, which consists of local residents across the city.

Bhimanwar said that the recommendations would be replicated in all the cities of Maharashtra. “We are working towards reducing fatal accidents,” he said.

David Cliff, CEO of Global Road Safety Partnership from Geneva said that to achieve enforcement along with penalties, impounding of vehicles and cancelling of licences would act as a better deterrent.