When was the last time you checked the vehicle's insurance papers? If not, you may have to cough up huge amounts of penalty for driving an uninsured vehicle. As per a proposal from Road Transport and Safety Bill, Motorcyclists caught riding without an insurance policy shall face penalty amount of about Rs. 10,000, whereas owners of light motor vehicles and autorickshaw may have to pay a penalty amount of about Rs. 25,000. Penalty amount as high as Rs. 75,000 would be applicable for any truck driver caught without driving a valid insurance policy. The fine amount is a considerably high in comparison to the existing fine of Rs. 1,000.
A surprising report mentioned in the study conducted by New India Assurance Ltd states that nearly 70% of motorcycles and scooters on the road are not insured and about third of trucks and cars in the country are uninsured. The Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority is also reportedly working out new easy rules. As per fresh updates, they may consider longer tenure of policies like three-year policy for two-wheelers along with reworked third-party insurance policy. Insurance companies have also suggested that Government should limit third party liability to about Rs.10 lakh.
Insurance companies also state that penalties should go beyond fines and the licenses of repeated offenders should be terminated. Speaking more on the idea, Sanjay Datta, Head of Motor Insurance at ICICI Lombard says, "More than the extent of fine, it is the ability not to drive that would be important for insurance companies. If the rules say that a three time motorcycle offender will lose his license, it will bring discipline."
