The Rest of the Motor Vehicles Act V: Offences and Miscellaneous

Two chapters of the Act in one

Chapter XIII, sections 177 to 210D, is the criminal law of the road: what is punishable, by how much, and by what procedure. Chapter XIV, sections 211 to 217A, is the miscellaneous Chapter, which includes the repeal of the Act of 1939.

Keep the two jurisdictions apart. A conviction under Chapter XIII does not compensate anybody, and an award under Chapter XII does not punish anybody. A driver may be acquitted of rash driving and still be found negligent by a Claims Tribunal, because the standards of proof differ.

The shape of Chapter XIII

The general provisions.

• Section 177. Punishment where no other penalty is provided: fine of five hundred rupees for a first offence and one thousand five hundred rupees for a subsequent one, both raised by the amending Act of 2019.
• Section 177A. Contravention of the driving regulations made under section 118: fine of not less than five hundred and up to one thousand rupees.
• Section 199B. The fines in the Act may be increased annually on 1 April by up to ten per cent, as notified by the Central Government.

Section 199B is the answer to the question a student always asks about penal figures in an old statute. Parliament built inflation into the Act rather than leaving the fines to decay.

Offences about licences and authority.

• Section 178. Travelling without a pass or ticket; dereliction of duty by a conductor; refusal to ply a contract carriage.
• Section 179. Disobedience of orders, obstruction and refusal of information: two thousand rupees.
• Section 180. Allowing an unauthorised person to drive: five thousand rupees.
• Section 181. Driving in contravention of section 3 or section 4, that is, without a licence or under age: five thousand rupees.
• Section 182. Offences relating to licences: ten thousand rupees.
• Sections 182A and 182B. Offences relating to the construction, maintenance, sale and alteration of vehicles and components, and contravention of section 62A.

Offences about the driving itself.

• Section 183. Driving at excessive speed, now including causing an employee or a person under one's control to do so, with fines graded by class of vehicle.
• Section 184. Dangerous driving, extended in 2019 to driving which causes a sense of alarm or distress to the occupants of the vehicle, other road users and persons near roads, and punishable on a first offence with imprisonment of six months to one year, or a fine of one thousand to five thousand rupees, or both, and on a subsequent offence with a fine of ten thousand rupees. An Explanation lists conduct that amounts to dangerous driving, beginning with jumping a red light.
• Section 185. Drunken driving, or driving under the influence of drugs: a fine of ten thousand rupees, and of fifteen thousand for a subsequent offence.
• Section 186. Driving when mentally or physically unfit.
• Section 187. Offences relating to an accident, that is, breach of the duties in sections 132(1), 133 and 134: imprisonment up to six months or a fine of five thousand rupees for a first offence, and up to one year or ten thousand rupees for a subsequent one.
• Section 188. Abetment of certain offences.
• Section 189. Racing and trials of speed on a public place without the written consent of the State Government.
• Section 190. Using a vehicle in an unsafe condition.
• Sections 192 and 192A. Using a vehicle without registration, and without a permit.
• Section 193. Agents and canvassers without proper authority.