Press Release
September 16, 2009

SENATE PASSES HELMET BILL; REVILLA WANTS MALACAÑANG TO CERTIFY BILL AS URGENT

Senator Bong Revilla appealed to Malacañang to certify his Mandatory Helmet Bill as urgent after the Senate unanimously approved it on third reading last Monday (September 14).

"I am optimistic that this measure will be passed earlier than expected based on the positive response of all my colleagues. I thank them for their support for my road safety advocacy. I will exert all efforts to have this bill passed into law," said Revilla.

Revilla urged Malacañang to certify his bill as urgent, in the wake of continuing rise of motorcycle accidents in the country. "We can not wait any longer. The country is in dire need of a Helmet Law. We must instill in our motorcycle riders a sense of discipline in obliging them to wear standard protective helmets. This is for their own good," he said.

The senator appealed to his colleagues in the House of Representatives to approve a counterpart proposal so that the Mandatory Helmet Bill will be enacted into law as soon as possible. "There is a recognized need to address the rising number of motorcycle accidents in the country, that's why we need to pass the Mandatory Helmet Bill immediately," he explained. "If the bill is certified as urgent, it would no longer need to go through the strict calendaring requirements in lawmaking. This will make the enactment of this measure into law a lot quicker."

Under Revilla's bill, all motorcycle riders- the driver and back rider- must wear standard protective helmets while driving motorcycles, whether on long or short drives, at any time of the day, in any type of road and highway. Drivers of tricycles are exempted.

Upon purchase of new motorcycle units, a new helmet which bears the Philippine Standard (PS) mark or the Import Commodity Clearance (ICC) seal of the Bureau of Product Standards (BPS) and complies with the standards as set by the BPS shall be provided by the seller and/ or the distributor as part of the package. The seller and/ or distributor who violates this provision shall face a fine of ten thousand pesos to twenty thousand pesos (P10, 000.00 - P20, 000.00).

On the other hand, those who will be caught not wearing helmets shall be charged one thousand five hundred pesos (P1, 500.00) for the first offense, three thousand pesos (P3, 000.00) for the second offense, five thousand pesos (P5, 000.00) for the third offense and ten thousand pesos (P10, 000.00) plus confiscation of the driver's license for the fourth and succeeding offenses.

The lawmaker said that there are about 3.5 million motorcycles in the Philippines , comprising 45 percent of all registered vehicles in the country, and together with this, is the alarming statistics of growing incidents of road mishaps involving motorcycles.

He cited figures gathered by the Traffic Operations Center of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) from January to December 2008 revealing that motorcycles have the highest fatality rate in road accidents with 106 motorcycles involved, or 28.19 percent of the total fatal accidents.

"Studies showed helmets are estimated to be 37 percent effective in preventing fatal injuries and 67 percent effective in preventing brain injuries to motorcyclists. It is not only our million motorcyclists who are aware of the danger of wearing no helmet, but also the motorcycle manufacturers and dealers. All we need is to institutionalize it," Revilla added.

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