 bill no  51 of  2014 the motor vehicles (amendment) bill, 2014 byshri mullappally ramachandran, mpa billfurther to amend the motor vehicles act, 1988be it enacted by parliament in the sixty-fifth  year of the republic of india as follows:— 1 (1) this act may be called the motor vehicles (amendment)  act, 2014short title and commencement(2) it shall come into force on such date as the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, appoint59 of 198852 in section 109 of the motor vehicles act, 1988 (hereinafter referred to as the principal act), after sub-section (3), the following sub-section shall be added, namely:—amendment of section 109"(4) without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provision,—(a) every manufacturer of a car or a motorcab shall ensure that there is an option to open the rear door in the car or the motorcab from within as well as from outside so as to ensure the exit of the passengers inside the car or the motorcab in the event of an accident;5(b) every manufacturer of a heavy passenger motor vehicle or educational institution bus or any other motor vehicle used to carry passengers shall ensure that there is an option in that motor vehicle or the bus to open emergency exit doors from within and as well as from outside so as to ensure the exit of the passengers inside the motor vehicle or the bus in the event of an accident"3 after section 125 of the principal act, the following sections shall be inserted, namely:—insertion of new sections 125a, 125b and 125cprohibition on playing of loud music10"125a no person driving a motor vehicle or in charge of a motor vehicle shall play or cause to play or allow playing of music at such volume as may likely to result in an accident by distracting the attention of the driver125b every driver of a motorcar and any other person seated on the front seat or the rear seat shall wear a seatbelt while the vehicle is in motioncompulsory wearing of seat belts125c no person shall light fireworks or do any act on any public place so as to cause impediment to the free flow of traffic or distract the attention of the drivers of motor vehicles"15prohibition on lighting fireworks, etc on road4 after section 134 of the principal act, the following sections shall be inserted, namely:—insertion of new sections 134a and 134b20no enquiry to be made from a person conveying accident victim to hospital"134a notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, when any person is injured as a result of an accident in which a motor vehicle is involved, no police officer shall make any enquiry from a person, other than the driver of the vehicle or person in charge of the vehicle, who helped the injured in securing medical attention by conveying him to the nearest medical practitioner or hospital, unless that person himself desires otherwise25134b the central government shall, for the purpose of securing timely medical attention to persons injured as a result of accident involving motor vehicles, provide adequate financial assistance to the state governments for—(a) making available adequate number of ambulances in each district;and certain steps to be taken by the central government to secure timely medical attention30(b) setting up of round the clock helpline numbers which shall be prominently displayed at various public places, national highways, state highways and roads frequently used by motor vehicles"5 after section 177 of the principal act, the following section shall be inserted, namely:—"177a whoever contravenes the provisions of sections 125a or 125b or 125cshall be punished with fine which shall not be less than one thousand rupees"insertion of new section 177a punishment for offences relating to playing of loud music, non-wearing of seat belts and lighting fireworks on roads356 in section 183 of the principal act, for sub-sections (1) and (2), the following sub-section shall be substituted, namely:—amendment of section 18340"(1) whoever drives or causes any person who is employed by him or is subject to his control in driving to drive a motor vechile in contravention of speed limit referred to in section 112 shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than three years and with fine which shall not be less than ten thousand rupees"amendment of section 18557 in section 185 of the principal act, for the words "shall be punishable for the first offence with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to two thousand rupees, or with both; and for a second or subsequent offence, if committed within three years of the commission of the previous similar offence, with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine which may extend to three thousand rupees, or with both", the words "shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than three years and with fine which shall not be less than ten thousand rupees" shall be substituted108 after section 199 of the principal act, the following sections shall be inserted, namely:—insertion of new sections 199a and 199b"199a whoever contravenes the provisions of sub-section (4) of section 109shall be punished with fine which shall not be less than one lakh rupeespunishment for not keeping an option to open rear door/ emergency exit from inside/outside in motor vehicle by manufacturers15199b whoever being a medical practitioner nor a doctor on duty in the hospital fails to immediately attend to the injured person and render him the medical aid or treatment in contravention of the provisions of clause (a) of section 134 shall be punished with fine which shall not be less than one lakh rupees" 9 in section 201 of the principal act, after sub-section (1), the following sub-section shall be inserted, namely:—punishment for not immediately attending the accident victimamendment of section 201"(1a) whoever —20(a) seeks alms or sells articles on any public place so as to cause impediment to the free flow of traffic; or(b) walks on the road or crosses the road instead of using the footpath or zebracrossing, shall be punishable with a fine which may extend upto one thousand rupees:25provided that a person seeking alms or selling articles under the influence of alcohol or a drug to the extent specified under section 185 shall be liable to punishment prescribed under that section" statement  of  objects  and  reasonsroad accidents have earned india a dubious distinction of having highest number of road accident casualties in the world statistic reveals that death occurs every four minutes on indian roads causes for road accidents are many like the congested city roads, bad road surfaces, flooding of roads, reckless driving, inadequate traffic management and so on in the years 2001 to 2011, more than a million people died in road accidents across indiaroad accidents are serious issues but little attention is being paid to this and road accidents claim more lives than in terrorist activities there is an urgent need to revamp the road safety measures and traffic management system in order to ensure road safety and well being of all road usersthe bill, therefore, seeks to amend the motor vehicles act, 1988 with a view to—(i) prohibit playing of loud music while driving a vehicle; (ii) make it compulsory to wear seat belts while the vehicle is in motion; (iii) prohibit lighting fireworks, etc on roads, which cause impediment to free flow of traffic;(iv) prohibit unnecessary harassment of persons who help in taking to the hospital the victims of road accidents; and(v) provide that the manufacturers shall ensure provision of opening rear door/emergency exit from inside/outside in motor vehicle for exit of passengers the bill also seeks to provide for enhanced punishment for certain offences under the actnew delhi;mullappally  ramachandranjune 26, 2014 financial  memorandumclause 4 of the bill seeks to insert a new section 134b in the parent act so as to provide that the central government shall provide adequate financial assistance to the state governments for—(i) making available adequate number of ambulances for securing medical help tovictims of road accidents in each district; and(ii) setting up of round the clock helpline numbersthe bill, therefore, if enacted, will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that an annual recurring expenditure of about rupees one hundred crore from consolidated fund of india will be involvedno non-recurring expenditure is likely to be involved annexure extract from the motor vehicles act, 1988        chapter vii construction, equipment and maintenance of motor vehicles109 (1) every motor vehicle shall be so constructed and so maintained as to be at all times under the effective control of the person driving the vehicle(2) every motor vehicle shall be so constructed as to have right hand steering control unless it is equipment with a mechanical or electrical signalling device of a prescribed naturegeneral provision regarding construction and maintenance of vehicles(3) if the central government is of the opinion that it is necessary or expedient so to do in the public interest, it may by order published in the official gazette, notify that any article or process used by a manufacturer shall conform to such standard as may be specified in that orderdriving at excessive speed, etc183 (1) whoever, drives a motor vehicle in contravention of the speed limits referred to in section 112 shall be punishable with fine which may extend to four hundred rupees, or if having been previously convicted of an offence under this sub-section is again convicted of an offence under this sub-section, with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees(2) whoever causes any person who is employed by him or is subject to his control in driving to drive a motor vehicle in contravention of the speed limits referred to in section 112 shall be punishable with fine which may extend to three hundred rupees, or, if having been previously convicted of an offence under this sub-section, is again convicted of an offence under this sub-section, with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees185 whoever, while driving, or attempting to drive, a motor vehicle,—(a) has, in his blood, alcohol exceeding 30mg per 100 ml blood detected in a test by a breath analyser, or;driving by a drunken person or by a person under the influence of drugs(b) is under the influence of a drug to such an extent as to be incapable of exercising proper control over the vehicle shall be punishable for the first offence with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to two thousand rupees, or with both; and for a second or subsequent offence, if committed within three years of the commission of the previous similar offence, with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine which may extend to three thousand rupees, or with bothexplanation— for the purposes of this section, the drug or drugs specified by the central government in this behalf, by notification in the official gazette, shall be deemed to render a person incapable of exercising proper control over a motor vehicle      201 (1) whoever keeps a disabled vehicle on any public place, in such a manner, so as to cause impediment to the free flow of traffic, shall be liable for penalty up to fifty rupees per hour, so long as it remains in that position:penalty for causing obstruction to free flow of trafficprovided that the vehicle involved in accidents shall be liable for penalty only from the time of completion of inspection formalities under the law:provided further that where the vehicle is removed by a government agency, towing charges shall be recovered from the vehicle owner or person in-charge of such vehicle(2) penalties or towing charges under the section shall be recovered by such officer or authority as the state government may, by notification in the official gazette, authorise       ———— a billfurther to amend the motor vehicles act, 1988————(shri mullappally ramachandran, mp)gmgipmrnd—820ls(s3)—03072014