Malawi road traffic fines hiked over 200% to reduce accidents

From driving a vehicle without a driver’s licence, underrating traffic police officers  to dangerous overtaking, there are lots of things you can be fined for in this day and age as Malawi government has increased amount of money motorists can be fined.

The Directorate of Road Traffic and Safety Services (DRTSS) released their adjusted fees for road traffic services and fines the introduced in an apparent attempt to reduce increasing cases of road accidents largely blamed on reckless driving.

Some of the new fees and fines are as follow and will be with effect from November 13.

1 Driving a vehicle without COF is now at K30,000 from K10,000.

2. Driving a vehicle without a driver’s licence or professional driving permit is now at K100,000 from K10,000

3. Dangerous overtaking is now punishable by a fine of K50,000 from K10,000

4. Exceeding speed limit (speed trap) is at K50,000 from K5,000

5. Underrating traffic police officers will be punishable by K200,000 from K20,000

Road traffic authorities said in earlier a statement that the adjustments have also been necessitated by an increase in cost of service and materials that the Directorate uses in order to serve the general public efficiently.

“On the other hand, the continued increase in violations of road traffic laws has shown that the current fines and penalties are not deterrent enough hence the increase,” reads a statement.

Malawi has recently seen an increase in road accidents in which many people have died and several others seriously injured.

One of the accidents happed  recently in Mzimba district in which 21 Malawi soldiers died and many others seriously injured after the vehicle they were traveling in overturned at a bend due to over speeding.

The DRTSS rolled out the Malawi Traffic Information System (Maltis) which comprises Electronic Traffic Law Enforcement component which was adopted in 2000, to capture, process and store traffic information and is used for the issuance and renewal of drivers’ licence, motor vehicle licences and permits, road permits and weighbridge data.