Cabinet today approved changes to the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2016. The amended bill is likely to be moved in the Lok Sabha for consideration and passage next week. According to sources, the bill has identified priority areas for improving road safety and it specifically targets traffic offenders with stringent penal provisions. <br/><br/>Stricter penalties are proposed for high risk offences like drunken driving, dangerous driving, overloading, non-adherence to safety norms by drivers. The bill provides for facilitating delivery of services to the citizens and transporters. It also proposes Aadhar based verification for grant of online services including learner's licence. <br/><br/>It is expected ensure the integrity of the online services and also stop creation of duplicate licences. The amended bill when passed by Parliament would also help in reducing the harassment faced by the stake holders in the RTO offices. Road safety is a major thrust area for the cause of public health and nearly 1.5 lakh people lost their lives on the roads last year. <br/><br/>Improving delivery of services to stakeholders using e-Governance is one of the major focus areas of this bill.<br/>'<br/>It is a largely pro-people initiative and will reform the motor vehicle insurance sector by providing specific timelines for processing of insurance claims. A ten-fold increase has been proposed in the compensation awarded under a simplified process of claims disbursal. <br/><br/>The family of accident victim would get compensation of 5 lakh rupees as settlement within four months of the accident. Presently it takes at least four to five years for an award.