THE Senate passed on third and final reading Monday a bill banning small children from riding as passengers on a motorcycle unless they can comfortably reach the standard foot peg of the vehicle.
Acting Minority Leader Vicente Sotto III, author and sponsor of Senate Bill 2488 or the proposed Prohibition on Children Motorcycles Act, said the proposed measure aims to ensure the safety of children when they travel on board two-wheeled motorcycles along public and private roads.
"It is necessary that we address this problem and ensure that no children will be injured or killed because we failed to provide necessary measures to prevent them," Sotto said.
Sotto, who made the bill his personal advocacy, cited a report from the World Health Organization (WHO) which showed that injuries from vehicular accidents were among the leading causes of death and disability.
The WHO study said that an estimated 3,500 people worldwide are killed daily due to vehicular accidents, 720 of whom are children.
In a 2003 Philippine National Injury Survey, road mishaps were the second leading cause of death among Filipino children.
A report from Metro Manila Development Authority also showed that motorcycle riders had the highest fatality accident rates among motor vehicles.
In the last quarter of 2012 alone, the Department of Health noted that there were 14,000 motorcycle-related injuries in the country.
“Imagine, 14,000 motorcycle accidents every three months? Injuries among children aged zero to 19 had reached 34 percent of the total cases,” Sotto said.
Senate President Franklin Drilon said the bill would bolster government efforts in preventing deaths and grave injuries of children sustained through road accidents.
Under the bill, first time offenders would be fined with an amount not exceeding P5,000, second time offenders would face a P10,000 fine while third time offenders and succeeding offenses would pay a fine of P20,000.
“Children who ride motorcycles are exposed to danger, particularly if they cannot reach the foot stool or embrace the adult fully for balance,” Sotto said.
“Because of their tender age, especially infants, children’s reflexes are different from adults and they may not be able to react rightly to some situations which can cause them to fall and suffer injury or even result in death,” he added.
Sotto clarified the ban would not apply to remote places or provinces where there was no considerable vehicular traffic and where motorcycles were the only means of transportation.
The prohibition, Sotto said, does not also depend on the age of the children, noting that children who could comfortably plant their feet on the foot peg and whose arms were long enough to rap around the physique of the driver would be exempted from the ban.
He said the ban would not apply to emergency cases or a situation wherein riding a motorcycle was the sole means of reaching a hospital. (Sunnex)