Salient features of Motor Vehicle Amendment Act, 2019

The Motor Vehicle Amendment Act, 2019 ("Act") came into force on 1st September 2019. The
Amendment Act replaced the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.A notification issued by the Union
Ministry of Road Transport and Highways ("Notification") stated that September 1, 2019, is to be
appointed as the date on which Section 1 of the Amendment Act will come into force.

Objective
With every step towards increased urbanisation, it is evident that the traffic on roads has
increased. Nowadays, each household in almost every city or town has at least one motor vehicle.
With this increasing traffic on roads the probability of accidents increases. This probability
matches with the reality. The number of road accidents is on the rise. The reasons are many, like
negligent and rash driving, dishonouring the traffic rules, unavailability of an efficient
enforcement mechanism for traffic rules, inefficient traffic police force etc. The Motor Vehicles
Act’s recent Amendment was done keeping in view these factors. This Act majorly aims at
ensuring road safety, compensation for the victims of accidents, third party insurance and the
health of the vehicles.

The salient features of the Act are

1. Cash Less Treatment during Golder Hour
The Act has made provisions for the cashless treatment of victims of road accidents during the
'golden hour', which has been defined as the time period up to one hour from the occurrence of
the accident. This 'golden hour' is hence the time period in which the chances of survival of the
victim are maximum if subjected to proper treatment and immediate care.
2. Compensation for road accident victims
The amount of compensations has been revised and increased the minimum compensation for
hit and run cases. According to the Act, the compensation in case of death increased m Rs.
25,000/- to 2 lakhs, and in case of grievous injury from Rs. 12,500/- to Rs. 50,000/-.
3. Road and environment health
To increase the road safety for passengers and drivers the act had new amendment related to
manufacturing defect and it directs the manufacturers to take back the vehicles, in case the
vehicles are not fit for use on roads and cause environmental damage and harm the health of
others. The manufacturers have been given the choice to either reimburse or replace the
defective vehicle with one of similar make.
4. National Road Safety Board
A key feature of this Act is that it provides for the setting up of a National Road Safety Board under
the central government in order to advise the governments of all the states and also the central
government on matters relating to traffic management and road safety.
5. Compulsory insurance
The Act instructs the Central Government to establish a 'Motor Vehicles Accident Fund' for
providing compulsory insurance to all the drivers of the country.
6. Fitness of Vehicles
The Amendment has laid down mandates for the automated testing of vehicles for doing a fitness
check for improving road safety by removing unfit vehicles from the traffic. There are specific
provisions in the Act for those who intentionally violate environment and safety regulations. The
Act promotes the certification of automobiles after being successfully tested. Also, it aims at
setting testing standards and bringing the agencies issuing automotive approvals under the Motor
Vehicles Act.
7. Taxi Aggregators
'Taxi aggregators' are defined by the Act as the intermediaries using a digital platform for
connecting drivers to passengers, who, according to the provisions, are to be provided with
licenses from the governments of the respective states and are instructed to follow the rules and
regulations of the Information and Technology Act, 2000.
8. Online Driving Licenses
This Act provides for online issuance of learner's license and mandates online identity verification.
This is aimed at improving efficiency and limits the issuance of fake licenses to a large extent. This
Act also provides that commercial licenses would be valid up to a period of five years instead of
three years. Driver training schools have been provided for, in order to ensure the production of
better drivers on roads.
9. National Register
This Amendment Act encourages harmonization and integration of issuance of driving license
with vehicle registration. The Act lays down that this would be done by the creation of a National
Register for Driving License and National Register for Vehicles with the online portals of 'Sarathi'
and 'Vahan' in order to ensure the creation of a uniform system of licenses and vehicle registration
throughout the country.
10. Protection of Good Samaritan
It has been often observed that generous persons who help the victims of road accidents end up
being the victims of harassment. The Act defines 'Samaritan' as a person who stands up for
helping out a road accident victim, immediately after such an accident takes place. It ensures that
they are not harmed in any manner and protects them from any kind of suits or proceedings,
even if they cause the death of the victim negligently.
11. National Transportation Policy
he idea of the formation of a National Transportation Policy has been promoted by the
Amendment of 2019. Such a policy has to be made by the Central government in collaboration
with all the state governments and would structure a framework for road transport.
12. Road Safety
This Amendment vehemently propagates the increase in the penalty for traffic rule offenders.
This is done in the hope that this increased fine would force the drivers to be more alert and
careful on the roads. This amendment provides more stringent rules for offences like juvenile
driving, drunken driving, over speeding, overloading and driving without a license. Stricter
punishment for those driving without helmets is also made in this Amendment.
13. Fitness of Vehicle
This Amendment has provisions mandating the automated testing of vehicles for doing a fitness
check. This would help improve road safety by removing from the traffic unfit vehicles. This
Amendment makes specific provision for those who deliberately violate environment and safety
regulations. This Amendment promoted certification of automobiles after they were successfully
tested. The regulation of this process of certification was also proposed via this Act. In addition
to this, Amendment of 2019 aims at setting testing standards and bringing the agencies issuing
automotive approvals under the Motor Vehicles Act.
14. Training of drivers
This Amendment strengthens the process of driving training. This would lead to a faster issuance
of licenses. This Amendment comes in the wake of a shortage of commercial drivers in the
country. It propagates the opening up of more driver training institutes for ensuring the
production of better commercial drivers in India.
15. Motor Vehicles Accident Fund
A Motor Vehicles Fund would be constituted to provide compulsory insurance to all drivers on-
road by the central government. This fund would be set up to compensate victims of road
accidents and their legal heirs in case of their death.
16. Better Insurance Facilities
This Act states that there exists no cap on liability for insurers. In fact, drivers attendants are now
to be included in third party insurance. There would now be up to ten times increase in
compensation by insurance companies. Provisions have been made to ensure that if the victim’s
family agrees to compensation of five lakhs, the family gets it within a month. The process of
claiming compensation has also been simplified. The minimum compensation for hit and run
cases and cases where the grievous injury is caused has also been increased.

CONCLUSION
Steps taken by government, specially transport ministry in previous years are appreciable. The
main feature of this amendment act, 2019 is the protection of "Good Samaritan" generally people
who have helped victims are harassed by the police authorities. They usually called Police Stations
for their statements and other formalities. They should be protected, so that more and more
people come forward to help victims in " Golden Hours".