Road accident toll dipped in states post MV Act: Govt

Post the implementation of new Motor Vehicle Act on September 1, deaths in road accidents have reduced drastically in some states, Union Minister for Road Transport Nitin Gadkari informed Parliament on Monday.

Several states and Union Territories including Kerala, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chandigarh and Puducherry witnessed drastically decline in road deaths, September and October this year compared to the same period last year, the Minister informed Rajya Sabha in a written reply.

The Act with stricter provisions and higher penalty amount came into force in the country from September 1.

While only two persons were killed in road crashes in Chandigarh in September and October as against eight in the year-ago period, Puducherry saw a decline in death by 31 per cent to nine fatalities as against the same months in 2018, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari informed Rajya Sabha in a written reply.

However, the Minister said post the implementation of the Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Act, 2019, Chhattisgarh saw an increase of 4 per cent in accident-related deaths to 305 in September and October months of 2019.

"The Ministry has not received any information from any State that they are not implementing the provisions of the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019. As per section 200 of the Motor Vehicles Act 1988, the State Government may by notification in the official gazette specify such amount for compounding of certain offences," Gadkari said.

Last week, the government had informed Parliament that as many as 38 lakh challans, involving a total amount of Rs 577.5 crore, have been issued since the implementation of the new Motor Vehicle Act.