MV Act: Driving Without Helmet Will Now Lead To DL Suspension In Odisha

Bhubaneswar: In a bid to stricten enforcement of Helmet Law and curb accident related deaths in the State, the Odisha government has come up with a stringent move of suspension of the driving license (DL) of the persons found driving motor cycles without a helmet.

In a letter to the Director General of Police (DGP) and Transport Commissioner, the Commerce and Transport department principal secretary Madhu Sudan Padhi has urged the police to take necessary steps for suspension of DL of the offenders in case of detection of violation of Helmet Law and also closely monitor its implementation.

Moreover, the government has requested the DG Police to submit a district wise report on suspension of DL for violation of Helmet Law during 2019 and during January to October, 2020 for appraisal of the Supreme Court Committee within Seven days.

As per Section 194 D of the MV Act, "Whoever drives a motor cycle or causes or allows a motor cycle to be driven in contravention of the provisions of section 129 will be fined Rs 1000 and S/he shall be disqualified for holding license for a period of three months.

Notably during 2019, two wheelers were involved in 4688 road accidents in the State as against 11064 in the country. While 2398 persons died in various road mishaps in Odisha last year, 2156 persons were not wearing helmet at the time of accident.

As per the information received, around 8.5 lakh people have been detected by Police and Odisha Motor Vehicles Department (OMVD) officers violating the Helmet Law in 2019.