Breaking rules like a habit? One more violation could stop you from driving for 90 days!

India is going to reshape its roadways transport rules. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways released the Central Motor Vehicles (Third Amendment) Rules, 2026. These new rules will focus on improving road safety and strictly handling repeated offenders including traffic fines (challans), monitoring road habituals, etc.

What are the new rules?

The amendment is very much directed towards two aspects:

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1. Offenders punishment – If a person commits a traffic offense five or more times in a year starting from January 1, 2026, the penalties will be very hard taking serious strict actions against the violator.
2. Challans (traffic fines) issued through the digital system can now be done through the electronic system or manually by the police. This ensures quicker issuance and better tracking.

Also, the government has made it clear that past offenses older than one year will not be included in future calculations for penalties. Thus, the violators will be held accountable while at the same time, there will be fairness.

Conduct of repeat offences

In the new regulations anyone being guilty of five or more traffic violations in one year will be subjected to penalties. Here is what follows:

• The previous offense which are older than a year are to be ignore.
• Habitual offenders will be informed officially about their violations.
• In case of non-response or failure to pay the fine, actions like suspension of vehicle registration until payment of the fine may be imposed.
• The intention behind this move is to instill a sense of responsibility among the drivers and to decrease the frequency of the small traffic rule violations.

The challan process eased

The procedure related to traffic fines has become less complex and more digital:

• traffic police or other state-designated officials can give out fines in person or over the internet.
• The offender must get the fine electronically within 3 days or physically within 15 days.
• Fines are entered chronologically on a government portal which guarantees transparency.
• The offender has a period of 45 days to either admit guilt and pay the fine or contest the fine online with evidence.
• This new system keeps all the fines linked and hence no offender can avoid the judicial process.

What happens if you don’t pay or contest a challan

The new rules explain in detail what happens if a challan is ignored:

• If the violator doesn’t respond within 45 days, the challan is considered accepted by default.
• Payment to be completed within the next 30 days.
• If someone objects the challan, authority must hear the case and resolve it in writing.
• If unresolved or rejected, the person can pay the fine partially (50 per cent) and appeal in court.
• Until fines are cleared, certain services, like license renewals or vehicle registration, may be blocked and the vehicle flagged as “Not to be Transacted” on government portals.

Moving towards smarter and safer roads

The rules also aim to digitalize the enforcement system completely:

• Automatic generation of challans through electronic monitoring systems.
• Daily notifications sent to violators via SMS, email, or physical notices.
• Integration of challan status with licensing and registration services.
• Offline reporting provision when network connectivity is unavailable.

The authorities are hopeful that these changes will bring about a decrease in road accidents, an increase in the number of people paying fines on time and a rise in the number of disciplined drivers.