The Road Safety and Transport (RST) Bill of 2017 proposes for a substantial increase in penalty for over speeding and drunk driving. This is following the feedback gathered from the public and traffic police.
As mentioned in the bill, fines for the traffic offences should be Nu 5,000 per instance. This is an increase by almost three fold compared to the existing fine of Nu 1,750 for both over speeding and drunk driving.
The Road Safety and Transport Authority (RSTA) in consultation with the Ministry of Information and Communications, Traffic Police and other relevant stakeholders drafted the Road Safety and Transport Bill 2017.
“In order to minimise offences of over speeding and driving under intoxication, we have discussed and decided that there is need to propose for increase in the existing penalty of Nu 1,750. As traffic, penalty amount is less hence people are not adhering to the speeding and drunk driving rules and regulations,” said the Officiating Director General of RSTA, Karma Pemba.
Going by the RSTA records, drink driving has been topping the list of traffic violations in the country for almost a decade now. This year, in the first three months, the traffic police division recorded 44 drink driving cases and 15 cases of driving beyond the speed limit.
RSTA officials said although the amount is yet to be fixed, fines for other forms of traffic violations are also expected to increase.
For now, the Bill is in its first draft stage. It has been distributed to relevant agencies for feedback. It is also available on the websites of Ministry of Information and Communications and RSTA. If all goes as planned, the bill is expected to be tabled during the winter session of the Parliament for endorsement.
