Violating traffic rules will cause you to shell out more money than earlier in fines now onwards, as a decision to hike fines for traffic rule violations came into effect from Saturday.

The new rules have been enforced in line with a government decision seven months ago to amend the Motor Vehicles and Transport Management Act 1993 to increase the penalty.

As per the new rules, fines range between Rs 500 and Rs 1,500 depending on the nature of offence. 

For offences like not wearing helmet could result in fine of Rs 500, while one has to pay Rs 1,000 for moderate offences like driving without licence and Rs 1,500 for “serious offences” like driving on the wrong side of the road. The new rules have categorised the offences and fines accordingly. Repeat offenders have to pay Rs 1,000 fine in first instance and Rs 1,500 in the second instance. 

The new rules are applicable across the country. 

Though the traffic police have brought the new rules aiming to deter motorists from violating traffic rules, the decision has not gone down well with transport entrepreneurs who have called for scrapping them. 

Representatives of several transport unions, including the National Federation of Nepal Transport Entrep-reneurs (NFNTE), on Friday submitted a memorandum to Minister for Home Affairs Shakti Basnet, urging him to nullify the new decision. Transport unions have argued that increasing fines alone will not resolve the problem of traffic mismanagement as the country utterly lacks proper road infrastructure. 

Earlier, the NFNTE had warned of protests if the government did not roll back its decision to hike the fines. But officials said it was not possible to roll back the decision.