NEW DELHI: India on Tuesday unveiled a draft law to discipline reckless motorists and try to restore order on its chaotic roads, where tens of thousands die in crashes every year.

Transport Minister T.R. Baalu introduced the bill in parliament as a replacement for a colonial-era law to cope with the growing number of accidents on India's spreading network of highways.

“Motorists caught driving excessively fast on speed cameras will now face a minimum penalty of Rs1,000 ($23) in a first-time offence and double the amount for a subsequent offence,” Baalu told parliament.

The call for a more than 100-per cent hike in penalties came a month after a court in New Delhi ordered sweeping measures including a ban on drinking or smoking while driving in the city of three million vehicles.

Road accident deaths in India jumped almost 46 per cent to 277,260 in the decade ended in 2004, according to figures from the Delhi-based Institute of Road Traffic Education of India.

The institute also said India accounts for nearly 10 percent of all fatal accidents worldwide.—AFP