RASH AND NEGLIGENT DRIVING ACT

ABSTRACT
Rash and negligent driving is a very dangerous way of
driving your motor vehicle. Many times, people are found
driving carelessly on public roads. It is important to know
that rash driving is a traffic violation and can put your life at
risk as well as can possibly harm other people on the road.
Over speeding your vehicle, ignoring the stop sign, racing
with other vehicles, drunk driving, etc. are also considered
under rash and negligent driving. When it comes to rash
driving meaning, in simple words, it can be described as
driving a vehicle without following the safety rules and
violating the driving rules. The careless behavior of the driver
is often the cause of the rash and negligent driving. It is
important to check the set speed limit, especially on
highways. Rash driving or riding on a public way is defined
under section 279 and causing death by negligence is defined
under section 304A of Indian Penal Code.
INTRODUCTION
In the legal field rash and negligence is defined as such. Any
act done without due deliberation and caution thereby is in all
likelihood suffiecient to run the risk of causing death or grevious hurt
can be set to be rashness then be said to mean doing an act without
due care and caution and with the knowledge that such act might
cause death or injury but without the intention.
The expression negligence has been interpreted to mean an omission
to do something which the reasonable man guided upon those
consideration which ordinarily regulate the conduct human affairs
would do or doing something which the prudent and reasonable man
would not do.
In other words, such negligence on the part of the deceased or the
injured which resulted in his own death or grevious hurt, will not be
available as a valid defence to the accused if the accused himself had
done some act or omission which was rash or negligent and which
contributed towards the death or the causing of grevious hurt.
HYPOTHESIS
Today, the rate of accidents in our country is rapidly
rising; statistic shows that 377 people die every day in road
accidents occur due to Rash and Negligent driving by the
drivers of vehicles. Motor vehicles that came into our lives as
a boon are now talking the form of a curse to a society. In the
year 2013, 1,37,000 people died in road accidents. India has
not even lost these many soldiers in all of its were combined.
So, two norms have to be followed while on roads.
First, be careful on the road whenever you are not on a
vehicle always be careful as the accident would be caused
due to the negligence of another but ultimately loss of life
and health would be your own. Secondly, whenever driving a
vehicle, always be utmost careful and drive with full caution
as your smaller hurry would result in grave disaster for the
life of another.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Section 279 Rash driving or riding on a public way:
Whoever drives any vehicle, or rides, on any public
way in a manner so rash or negligently as to endanger human
life, or to be likely to cause hurt or injury to any other person,
shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for
a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which
may extend to one thousand rupees, or with both.
Section 304A Causing death by negligence:
Whoever causes the death of any person by doing
any rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable
homicide, shall be punished with imprisonment of either
description for a term which may extend to two years, or
with fine, or with both.

HISTORICAL PROSPECTS
The offence for this act was formerly created by the
Road Traffic Act 1956. It was introduced as an alternative to
manslaughter as juries had been found reluctant to convict
defendants of that offence.
The world’s first road traffic death involving a motor
vehicle is alleged to have occurred on 31 august 1896.1 Irish

1
However, the first known account of this crash dates to 1801. “Le fardier de Cugnot”
scientist Mary Ward died when she fell out of her cousins’
steam car and was run over by it.
The British road engineer J.J Leeming, compared the
statistics for fatality rates in Great Britain, for transport-
related incidents both before and after the introduction of
the motor vehicle, for journeys, including those once by
water that now are undertaken by motor vehicle.2 For the
period 1863-1870 there were: 470 fatalities per million of
population and for the period 1931-1938: 403 fatalities.
Leeming concluded that the data showed that “travel
accidents may even have been more frequent a century ago
than they are now, at least for men”.
In 1969 a British road engineer compared the
circumstances around road deaths as reported in various
American states before the widespread introduction of 55
mph speed limits and drunk-driving laws.
They took into account thirty factors which it was
thought might affect the death rate. The thirty factors were
finally reduced to six by eliminating those which were found
to have small or negligible effect. The final six were:
(a) The percentage of the total state highway mileage
that is rural
(b) The percent increase in motor vehicle registration
(c) The extent of motor vehicle inspection
(d) The percentage of state-administered highway that is
surfaced
(e) The average yearly minimum temperature
2
Leeming, J.J (1969). Road Accidents: Prevent or Punish?
 (f) The income per capita
‘these are placed in descending order of importance. These
six accounted for 70% of the variations in the rate’.

COMPARATIVE STUDY
UNITED KINGDOM:
In United Kingdom law, dangerous driving is a
statutory offence. It is also a term of art used in the definition
of the offence of causing death by dangerous driving.
Canada’s Criminal Code has equivalent provisions covering
dangerous driving.
The offence of causing death by reckless driving was
created by section 1 of the Road Traffic Act 1972 and then by
section 1 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. It was abolished, and
replaced with the offence of causing death by dangerous
driving by section 1 of the Road Traffic Act 1991. The
penalties for causing death by reckless driving act upto 5
years in prison and driving ban for minimum of 1 year. The
following are the list of driving offences:
(i) S.172- failing to provide driver
information/identity. Otherwise known as failure to
nominate or ‘driver identity’ offences.
(ii) Speeding offences in contravention of 20mph,
30mph, 40mph, 50mph, 60mph and 70mph speed
limits.
 (iii) Using a vehicle without reasonable consideration
for other road users or without due care and
attention offences- section 3 Road Traffic Act 1988
(iv) Using a motor vehicle without there being in force
a relevant policy of insurance or permitted
someone else drive without insurance.
(v) S.170 Road Traffic Act 1988 offences- failing to stop
after an accident or failing to report an accident to
the police without 24 hours of it happening.
(vi) Driving NOT in accordance with a licence,
otherwise known as driving without a licence.
(vii) S.2 RTA 1988- dangerous driving offences- one of
the most serious road traffic law allegations.
(viii) Advice in relation to New Drivers subject to a 2-
year probationary period.
(ix) Being in charge of a motor vehicle whilst the
proportion of alcohol in your breath exceeds the
legal limit and all other drinking and driving related
offences.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

In United States Law, reckless driving is a major
moving traffic violation that generally consists in driving a
vehicle with willful or wanton disregards for the safety of
persons or property. It is usually a more serious offence than
careless driving, improper driving, or driving without due
care and attention and is often punishable by fines,
imprisonment, or driver’s license suspension or revocation. In
the Commonwealth countries, the offence of dangerous
driving applies. Reckless driving has been studied by
psychologists who found that reckless drivers score high in
risk-taking personality traits. However, no one cause can be
assigned to the mental state.
Depending on the jurisdiction, reckless driving may
be defined by a particular subjective mental state that is
evident from the circumstances, or by particular driver
actions regardless of mental state, or both. Here in this
country each state deal with their own penalty. The offences
comes under section 11 to 801 of title B. In some cases there
will be mandatory to minimum penalty it depend upon the
offence.

FRANCE
Those resident in France from within the EU who
commit an offence that would otherwise result in:
 Restriction, cancellation or suspension of a French
driving license or,
 Loss of points on the license,
Are also required to exchange their foreign license for a
French one. In practice, they may not require you to do this
for a minor offence, but do not bank on it.
Since the UK left the EU, drivers in France on UK
plates who are flashed for speeding escape fines and
penalties, as there is no longer a reciprocal agreement
between the two countries.
 Nevertheless, fines and imprisonment can also be
applied against those driving in France on a foreign driving
license if stopped by police. We considered cross-border
offences in our Newsletter article cross-border fines on
driving offences, written prior to Brexit, but much of it still
relevant.

PROVISIONS AND ESSENTIALS

The Indian Penal Code, 1860 defines rash and
driving or riding on a public way and causing death by
negligence. Rash driving or riding on a public way is defined
under section 279 and causing death by negligence is defined
under section 304A of Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Rash or negligent act involves rash driving and causing negligent.
Rash driving deals with Chapter 14 Section 279 of IPC and negligent
deals with Chapter 16 Section 304(A) of IPC.
SECTION 279

The offence punishable under section 279 of the

Indian Penal Code is a cognizable offence, which means that
the police can arrest someone for a crime without a warrant,
but such offences are bailable. The issuance of bail in bailable
offence is a matter of right. The right can be given by a police
officer holding the accused in custody or by a court with
discretion, and it is triable by the Magistrate who has
jurisdiction over the region where the crime was committed.
The essentials of this sections are:
 Rash Driving or Riding - This section deals with rash and
negligent driving of any vehicle or riding in a public way
in a rash and negligent manner so as to endanger
human life or to be likely to cause hurt or injury to any
person. If a person drives a motor vehicle on a road
without due care and attention, he shall be guilty of an
offence under this section and punishable with
imprisonment which may extend to six months, or fine
up to rupees five hundred, or both. The offence is
cognizable, bailable and triable by any Magistrate.
 Public way – Any way which is common to all subjects
whenever directly leading to a town or beyond a town
as a thoroughfare to other towns or from town to town,
may properly be called a public way.3
 Rash and negligent driving – A rash act is primarily an
overhasty one and so must be opposed to a deliberate
act, but is yet done without deliberation and caution. It
is not necessary that the rash and negligent act should
result in injury to life and property.4 Speed alone is not
the criteria for deciding rashness or negligence on the
part of the driver. The relationship between speed and
3
Nga Myat Thin, (1898) PJLB 426
4
P. Rajappan v. State of Kerala, 1986 Cr LJ 511 Ker
 rashness or negligence depends upon the place and
time. In a straight wide road, where obstructions from
other vehicles or pedestrians are not present, it cannot
be said that driving in speed or absence of sounding a
horn would amount to rashness or negligence. A motor
vehicle is intended to be driven with speed.5
So the ingredients of this section includes: there should be
driving or riding which can be through any vehicle moving or
having tendency to move. Then the driving or riding must be
on public way and such driving or riding must be rash or
negligent.
SECTION 304A

Section 304A of the Indian Penal Code deals with

causing death through negligence or rash conduct. If a
person causes the death of another person by negligent or
reckless behavior that does not amount to culpable
homicide, they face up to two years in prison, a fine, or both.

5
Mohammad Saffique v. State of Orissa, 1983 Cr LJ 535
The four primary conditions that a person must meet in order
to do a negligent act are as follows:
 Duty – The defendant must accept some responsibility
for negligent behavior. It is essential to evaluate if the
defendant has a legal duty of care to the plaintiff.
 Breach of Duty – The plaintiff must establish that the
defendant breached a legal duty owed to him/her. A
legal obligation owed to him or her. It explains the
defendant’s breach of duty, which he/she is expected
to do because he/she owes the plaintiff some legal
duty.
 The action of causing something – The plaintiff has
suffered harm as a result of the defendant’s actions.
The defendants may do an act that was not anticipated
of him or be negligent in failing to perform an act that
was required of him.
 Damages – The plaintiff must have suffered some sort
of injury as a direct result of the defendant’s acts.
The essentials components of this sections are:
 A person must die
 The death must be the result of the accused’s actions;
 The death must be the result of the accused’s negligent
act, and
 The accused’s act must not constitute culpable
homicide.
The rule applies where there is a direct relationship between
the accused’s rash or negligent conduct and the death of the
person in question. The behavior must be the direct cause of
death.

EVIDENCE
The court recognizes these evidences to interpret
the case
SPEEDOMETER CALIBRATION
If you’ve been charged with reckless driving by
speed, a speedometer calibration can be used to prove your
speed. Certificates are relatively inexpensive to obtain and
generally don’t need to be provided to the court unless they
will help your case.
GPS EVIDENCE
GPS evidence supported by a speedometer
calibration can be particularly helpful if you were clocked
travelling close to the reckless driving cutoff of 85 miles per
hour or 20 miles per hour over the posted speed limit. In
these cases, a discrepancy of even just a few miles can be
enough to reduce or drop the charge.
WITNESS TESTIMONY
Witness testimony can prove valuable if you’re
charged with a type of reckless driving that requires specific
forms of misconduct. For example, reckless driving charges
for drag racing require you to be in a race with two or more
drivers that has a defined start point and end point. It must
also takes place on public streets or highways or in the
driveway or parking lot of a facility open to the public. If
witness testimony can be used to cast doubt on any of these
elements, you will have a strong case to drop or reduce the
charge.
EVIDENCE OF IMPROPER SIGNAGE
If your reckless driving charge involves mistakes
made because of vandalized, missing, or obscured road signs,
photographs showing the lack of correct signage can be used
as evidence in your case. This type of evidence is especially
helpful if you were ticketed while driving in an area that is
somewhat unfamiliar to you.
PHYSICAL EVIDENCE
Physical evidence consists of tangible objects, such as biological
material, fibers and latent fingerprints. Physical evidence is any
object that can connect a victim or suspect to a crime scene.
Biological evidence, which contains DNA, is not always visible to the
naked eye. Physical evidence is any tangible evidence, like an object
that can be touched or held, that is found at a crime scene. Physical
evidence is also considered real evidence and plays a valuable role in
criminal forensics, which is the science of crime detection and
evidence collection.
EVIDENCE OF SAFE COMMITMENT
If you had a spotless driving record before this
charge, this can be used to show that you are committed to
safe driving. If your record is less than perfect, completing a
driver improvement clinic can be a way to encourage the
court to show leniency.
POLICE REPORTS
 Police reports is a formal oral or written
presentation of facts or a recommendation for action. The
expression “police report” has been defined under the Code
of Criminal Procedure as meaning a report forwarded by a
police officer to a Magistrate under sub section (2) of section
173 [2].
MEDICAL REPORTS
If you were speeding due to a medical emergency,
such as experiencing a stroke or heart attack, you would
want to obtain medical records substantiating a passenger’s
or your health condition that required you to speed.

PREOCEDURE

When you cause the accident:

In such a situation, if possible, you are supposed to take the
following measures:
  Get medical assistance for the casualties if any. It is
mandatory for the doctor to treat the victim without
waiting for any formalities.
 Inform the police – call 100 or report to the nearest
police station and file an FIR.
 Try to contact your insurer as soon as possible and
provide them with every detail that you can.
 Do not forget to click pictures of the accidents site and
hand over the pictures to your insurance company.
 You can also file a complaint with the SP against the FIR
lodged against your vehicle or across FIR.
The police might make an arrest if, you drove negligently and
rashly.
When you get injured in an accident:
First of all, you’ll get emergency medical treatment from any
hospital. In medico – legal cases, the case doctor will report it
to the nearest police station only after completing primary
lifesaving medical care.
Next, you have two options:
1. File an FIR, to get
 Third – party liability (claims by persons other than
the owner or the driver)
 Cases of injury or loss of life (this is done by the
hospital in most cases).
2. File an application at the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal
for claiming monetary compensation. There is no time
 limit for filing Motor Vehicle Accidents claim, however,
do not cause unreasonable delay.
Although documenting the scene of the accident is the duty
of the police, if you (the victim) are in a position to take the
following steps, you should:
 Take down the information of the vehicle and driver
that caused the accident.
 Take photographs and videos of the injurie, vehicles,
accident site, etc.
 Gather statements from witnesses.
 Inform your insurance company as soon as you can.
As of now, the Motor Vehicle Act is set to be amended and
the legislators shall introduce stricter measures against traffic
offenders. The authorities are also set to increase the safety
measures.

CASE LAWS
GURU BASAVARAJ ALIAS BENNE SETTAPPA V. STATE OF
KARNATAKA.
In this case the accident occurred due to mechanical failure and not
because of rash and negligent driving. However, he chose not to
adduce any evidence. The learned Magistrate acquitted the accused
of…facet of rash and negligent driving of the driver. The learned
counsel for the appellant has submitted that the vehicle turned turtle
due to mechanical failure i.e non-functioning of the hydraulic
system….the rash and negligent driving. Analysing the evidence in
entirely, the learned trial Judge as well as the Appellate Judge has
returned the finding as regards the rash and negligent.
RAGHAVAN PILLAI VS STATE [AIR 1954]
In this case, the accused was driving a truck
along the divider of a straight road at a high speed with an
intention to keep its speed similar to that of a train that was
running parallel to the road. The truck was loaded with heavy
bags and also two persons sitting on the top of the bags.
All of a sudden three bullock carts approached
from the opposite direction along the appropriate side of
their way. To this, the accused turned his truck towards the
right of the road to allow the bullock carts to pass, but
unfortunately, it resulted that the truck overturned causing
the death of one of the people sitting on the top and grievous
hurt to the another. It was held that the accused was guilty
under section 279, 304A and 338 IPC.
BRAHAM DASS VS STATE OF HIMACHAL PRADESH
The fact of the case are, that the appellant is a bus
driver for the Himachal Pradesh Road Transportation
Corporation. The vehicle had come to stop at a bus station
along the journey. A passenger got off the bus and went to
the roof to unpack some luggage. The driver started the bus
while the passenger was on the roof, without waiting for a
signal from the bus conductor and without checking if
passengers who had alighted had boarded back and those
who planned to get off had gotten off, resulting in the
passenger on the roof falling from the moving bus and
sustaining injuries. He was subsequently transferred to a
nearly hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.
 In this case, the court stated that section 279
deals with rash driving or riding in a public way. The accused
must prove that he or she was driving any vehicle in a public
area in a manner that endangered human life or was likely to
cause harm or injury to another person, as per a basic
understanding of this provisions. Charges under section 279
IPC are not based on negligence. As a result, before section
279 can be used, it must be shown that there was an element
of rash or negligence.

RAVI KAPUR VS STATE OF RAJASTHAN

The fact of this case are as follows: there were
two jeeps heading to the wedding, and there was also a
Maruti car ahead of these jeeps. A bus was approaching from
the opposite side at great speed, so the driver of the Maruti
car instantly shifted his car to one side to save himself, and
the bus collided with one of the two jeeps. Some of the
members died on the spot as a consequences of the terrible
accident.
In this case, the Supreme Court held that rash and
negligent driving must be considered in light of the facts and
circumstances of each case. it’s a fact that can’t be
comprehended or viewed separately. It needs to be viewed
in light of the surrounding circumstances. A person who
operates a motor vehicle on the road may be held
responsible for both their actions and the results. It’s not
always easy to establish whenever someone was driving
recklessly or negligently simply on the speed of their vehicle.
Both of these actions point to unusual behavior. Under
section 279, even driving a car at a slow speed but recklessly
and negligently is termed “rash and negligent driving”.
PRAFULLA KUMAR ROUT VS STATE OF ORISSA
When students from Khantapade Girl’s High School
were going home from school, a bus named ‘Madhabika’
driven by the accused ramped up, collided with the deceased
ran her over and killed her instantly on the spot. The
accused, who was driving the bus, left the vehicle and
escaped.
As the accident happened in front of the school,
the Orissa High Court declared that drivers should be
cautious and slow down when driving near educational
institutions. The accused was found guilty under this
provision.
POPAT BHAGINATH KASAR VS STATE OF MAHARASHTRA
The Bombay High Court held in this case that
when a person drives his vehicle at a high speed even though
it is a densely populated and busy road, it is one of the
shades of driving the vehicle in a rash and negligent manner.
STATE VS GULAM MEER
The issue of this case was whether it was
correct that a person who engages in rash and negligent
driving on a public road in way that endangers human life
cannot be punished for the crime under section 279, IPC if
such driving also injures another person.
 Another to the court, an offence under section
279, IPC and therefore a person convicted of an offence
under section 337 or section 338 IPC can also be convicted of
an offence under section 279 IPC. If the two offences on the
other hand are committed in the same transaction.

CONCLUSION
Thus section 279 focuses on the crimes of
rashness and negligent driving on public way which is limited
to the act of driving or riding anything movable so it is to stop
the crimes creating fear in the minds of public of the people
who drink and drive or drive at high speed on a busy road or
drives in crazy ways hitting people or causing of just fear as
such. And if this rashness or negligent driving on public way
leads to causing death than it is section 304A read with
section 279 that is causing death by negligence. Though the
scope of 304A is very wide and large as in this it includes any
type of negligent act causing death but it is not necessary for
charging section 279 as it needs that there was negligent
driving as a specific act.

REFERENCE
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Indian Penal Code by Ratanlal & Dhirajlal 35th Edition
WEBLIOGRAPHY
https://blog.ipleaders.in
https://lawlex.org
https://www.tkevinwilsonlawyer.com