Traffic violators may have to pay high insurance premium

If you are a habitual traffic rules violator, it is time to do a reality check as people who have bad records or those who often meet with road accidents may soon find it difficult to get their vehicles insured.

The Delhi traffic police are mulling over an initiative under which the force will share details of all traffic violations committed by motorists with insurance companies.  The companies in turn will either refuse to insure cars owned by high-risk drivers or charge a higher premium against vehicles owned by such people.

According to the traffic police, the initiative will be widely implemented once the electronic challan scheme — digitising all traffic violations — becomes operational by April.

“This is the common practice in developed countries. They have access to the entire history of traffic violations registered against a particular driving licence holder, and the data of the number of accidents the vehicle has been involved in,” said a senior traffic officer.

“They identify high-risk drivers on that basis and charge premium accordingly,” said the officer. “The initiative is being worked out as steep fines have a proven record of making drivers obey traffic rules. The city with the burgeoning traffic problem needs hard measures to maintain sanity on the roads.”

The traffic police, however, said it will be up to insurance companies to adopt the model of charging higher premium in providing cover to vehicles. The force will share the details with insurance firms once the data is ready, said a traffic police officer.

“Once the e-challan scheme is launched, all traffic violations will be digitised. The entire data will be uploaded on the traffic police website. Anybody willing to check the records of any driver or vehicle can access the latest details,” said Anila Shukla, additional commissioner of police (traffic).

He said handheld e-challan devices have been used on trial in some circles of the central district, and will be launched in a full-fledged manner soon. “Minor technical glitches are being fixed. We are hopeful of launching the e-challan scheme by April first week,” said Shukla.