New traffic rules to come into effect from Oct 1; changes you need to know

There are a number of changes that one needs to keep in mind before hitting the road tomorrow

Amendments to the Motor Vehicle Act, 1989, will come into force from Thursday, October 1. Major changes include no physical verification of documents to monitoring the driver's behaviour. According to the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH), changes have been done for better implementation of traffic rules, push digitisation, and prevent harassment of drivers by police officials.

Here's all you need to keep in mind before hitting the road tomorrow:

• There will be no physical verification of vehicular documents like driving license or registration certificate. In case someone's driving license needs to be revoked, it will be done digitally through a portal, which will be updated chronologically. 

•  According to the official notification, the driver's behaviour would be monitored and the police officer's identity will also be updated in the portal. "Further upon demanding or inspecting any documents, the date and time stamp of inspection and identity of the police officer in uniform or any other officer authorized by the State Government, shall be recorded on the Portal. This would help in unnecessary re-checking or inspection of vehicles and further would remove harassment to the drivers," the statement read.

• The records on the portal would be updated every time a driver or the vehicle is inspected. 

• One can maintain their vehicular documents on the government's online portals like Digi-locker or m-parivahan. 

• Apart from all these, handheld communications devices like smartphones should be used only for route navigation, in such a way that drivers don't lose their concentration while driving.

Those who will be caught violating the rules will be fined under the existing traffic norms.