The fines collected from traffic violators should be exclusively used for road safety not for running the government according to the International Road Federation (IRF). The road safety body has also suggested a gradual increase in the fines and finding ways and means to stop ‘false’ and ‘entrapped’ challaning by the enforcement agencies.

“The recent amendments in the Motor Vehicle Act which brought about a steep rise in fines for traffic violations cannot be faulted, they must be commended. But care should be taken that the fines are imposed gradually on violators in the sense that if the increased range is from ₹ 100 to ₹ 1000, the first year should be ₹ 250, second-year should be ₹ 500 and the third year should be ₹ 1,000,” said KK Kapila, President emeritus, International Road Federation (IRF) and Co-Chairperson FICCI National Committee on Transport Infrastructure.

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A statement from the IRF said that it is a road safety body working for better and safer roads worldwide.

“The fines collected from traffic violators should be exclusively used for road safety not for running the government. A separate ‘road safety fund’ as directed by the Supreme Court should be set up for traffic violations,” Kapila said.

“The corpus of the fund should be used for automation of traffic enforcement, installation of intelligent transportation systems and devices to improve traffic safety. To curb false challaning, the operation and maintenance of these systems should be given on public-private partnership basis to expert agencies,” he added.

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