Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

SIXTEENTH CONGRESS

First Regular Session

2276

House Bill No.

Introduced by Representatives Mariano Michael M. Velarde Jr. and Jose L.
Atienza Jr. and Irwin C, Tieng (BUHAY Party List)

EXPLANATORY NOTE

It is a declared policy of the State to secure and safeguard the life and
limbs of its citizenry. In line with BUHAY Hayaan Yumabong Party List’s
advocacy to uphold the sanctity of life, we are proposing a measure for the safety
of Motorcycle Drivers. Last 15 Congress this Bill was deliberated at the
Committee on Transportation and Committee on Appropriations.

Notably, among the vehicles running in our roads and highways, which
have lately been figuring in serious and fatal road mishaps is the motorcycle.
Deaths of and injuries to drivers and passengers of motorcycles are now the
usual features in primetime news almost on a daily basis.

For purposes of ensuring the safety of motorcycle drivers, operators and
passengers as well as the other road users who may have figured in accidents
and mishaps involving motorcycles, the State shall pursue a more proactive and
preventive, rather than merely remedial or reactionary, approach with the
mandatory enforcement of a low-cost method to reduce crashes and fatal
accidents, more specifically those involving daytime or night time head-on and
front-corner collisions by increasing motorcycle conspicuity and visibility and
making it easier to detect approaching motorcycles by requiring all motorcycle
drivers and operators to automatically turn their headlights on as soon as they
start their motorcycle engines and to maintain their headlights on while their
motorcycles are running on all roads at all hours of the day or night.

In viewy of the foregding, early approval of this bill is requested.



Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City
SIXTEENTH CONGRESS

First Regular Session

2276

House Bill No. __~

Introduced by Representatives Mariano Michael M. Velarde Jr., Jose L.
Atienza Jr. and Irwin C. Tieng (BUHAY Party List)

“AN ACT REQUIRING THE MANDATORY COMPLIANCE BY ALL
MOTORCYCLE DRIVERS AND OPERATORS TO AUTOMATICALLY
TURN ON AND RIDE WITH THEIR HEADLIGHTS ON AT ALL HOURS OF
THE DAY AND NIGHT ON ALL ROADS.”

Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives assembled:

Section 1. Short Title - This Act shall be known as the “Mandatory Automatic
Headlights On for Motorcycles Act of 2013.”

Section 2. Declaration of Policy - It is hereby declared the policy of the State to
secure and safeguard its citizenry, particularly the drivers and operators of
motorcycles as well as their passengers, from the ruinous and extremely
injurious effects of vehicular accidents. Towards this end, the State shall pursue a
more proactive and preventive, rather that merely remedial or reactionary,
approach in order to secure the safety of the drivers and operators of motorcycles
as well as their passengers, with the mandatory enforcement of a low-cost
method to reduce crashes and prevent daytime and nighttime head-on, front-
corner and other forms of collisions by increasing motorcycle conspicuity and
visibility as well as making it easier to detect approaching motorcycles by
requiring all motorcycles to ride on all roads with their headlights turned on at
all hours of the day and night.

Section 3. Definition of Terms - For the purpose of this Act, the term;
(a) “Motorist” shall refer to the driver or operator of a motorcycle.

(b) “Motorcycle” shall refer to any motor vehicle other than a tractor having a
seat or saddle for the use of the rider and designed with not more than
two wheels in contact with the ground and weighing not more than 3,300
kilograms.

For the purpose of this Act, however, this term shall exclude bicycles, tricycles or
any and all motorcycle’ equipped with a sidecar, whether or not intended for
private use or a public utility vehicle or vehicle for hire.

(©) “Roads” shall refer to any road, street, expressway, highway or
thoroughfare within the territorial jurisdiction of the Republic of the


Philippines, including those that have been determined as limited access
facilities.

Sec. 4. Mandatory Use of Headlights During the Day and Night. - For the safety of all
motorcycles and passengers thereon, and the commuting public in general, all
motorcycles, without exception, are required to run or ride on all roads, as well
as expressways, highways or limited access facilities, with their headlights
turned on at all hours of the day and night.

Sec. 5. Provisions for Automatic Headlights On System, Mechanism or Device. ~ This
Act further requires motorcycle manufacturers, assemblers and distributors to
ensure that the Automatic Headlights On System, mechanism or device are
properly installed before the distribution and sale of the said motorcycles as
determined and prescribed by the Implementing Rules and Regulations that
shall be issued pursuant to this Act.

Sec. 6 Importation. - It shall be unlawful for any person to import or cause the
importation of any motorcycle without appropriate and operational Automatic
Headlights On System, mechanism or device as required herein and in
accordance with the Implementing Rules and Regulations which shall be issued
pursuant to this Act.

Sec. 7 Type of Headlights Required. - Every motorcycle shall be equipped with at
east one (1) and not more than two (2) working headlights. Furthermore, every
motorcycle manufactured or imported into or within the territorial jurisdiction of
the Republic of the Philippines after this Act takes effect must have headlights
which automatically turns on when the engine of the motorcycle is started and
which must remain lighted as long as the engine is running.

Whether the motorcycle is equipped with single beam or multiple beam
headlights:

(@) The headlights must be of sufficient intensity to reveal a person or a
vehicle at any distance of not less than 30.5 meters when the motorcycle is
operated at any speed less than 40.225 kilometers per hour and at any
distance of not less than 61 meters when operated at a speed of 40.225 to
56.315 kilometers per hour and a distance of 91.5 meters when operated at
a speed greater than 56.315 kilometers per hour.

(6) If the motorcycle has a multi-beam headlight, the upper beam must meet
the minimum requirement set forth above.

(©) If there is a single beam headlight, it must be aimed so that when the
motorcycle is loaded, none of the high intensity portion of the light, at a
distance of 7.625 meters ahead, will project higher than the level of the
center of the lamp from which it comes.

Sec. 8. Registration. - No new motorcycle shall be allowed initial registration and
succeeding renewal of registration unless it is equipped with the necessary
‘Automatic Headlights On System, mechanism or device. Renewal of registration
of in-use motorcycles without the required Automatic Headlights On System,
mechanism or device shall not be allowed one (1) year after the passage of the
Implementing Rules and Regulations of this Act as specified in the next


succeeding Section of the Act. For this purpose the Land Transportation Office
(LTO) shall include in the implementing guidelines a system of vehicle
registration where compliance with Section 4 hereof is required.

Sec. 9. Period of Implementation. - The Land Transportation Office (LTO) shall be
the agency primarily responsible in the enforcement and implementation of this
‘Act. Within sixty (60) days from the affectivity of this Act, the LTO shall
formulate and issue the necessary Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR)
and guidelines and shall mobilize available resources to assure the effective
implementation of this Act.

Sec. 10, Penalties and Fines. - It is hereby declared unlawful to run, ride or operate
a motorcycle without a headlight on at any time of the day and night and/or an
Automatic Headlights On System, mechanism or device that automatically turns
on when the engine of the motorcycle is started and which must remain lighted
as long as the engine is running.

In the enforcement of this Act, the LTO shall impose fines against drivers,
operators, owners of motorcycles, their manufacturers, assemblers, importers
and/or distributors for any violation of this Act. The following shall be the basis
in defining the provisions on fines and penalties of the IRR to be promulgated
pursuant to Section 6 hereof: Provided, That a grace period of six (6) months from
the effectivity date of the IRR shall be granted to afford the LTO and the other
government agencies concerned the opportunity to conduct a nationwide
information campaign:

(1) On the motorist, driver, owner or operator:

(a) For failure to ride with headlights on at anytime of the day or night, a
minimum fine of one thousand pesos (P1,000.00) but not to exceed two
thousand pesos (P2,000.00 for the first violation; a minimum fine of two
thousand five hundred pesos (P2,500.00) but not to exceed three thousand
pesos (P3,000.00) for the second violation; and a minimum fine of three
thousand five hundred pesos (P3,500.00) but not to exceed five thousand
pesos (P5,000.00) and suspension of driver's license for a period of one (1)
month for the third and succeeding violations;

(2) On any manufacturer, assembler, importer and distributor for every unit
found without a working headlight and/or an Automatic Headlight On
System, mechanism or device, a minimum fine of five thousand pesos
(P3,000.00) but not to exceed ten thousand pesos (10,000.00) and suspension
of the license to manufacture, assemble, import or distribute for a period of
one (1) year for the first violation; a minimum fine of ten thousand pesos
(P10,000.00) but not to exceed twenty thousand pesos (P20,000.00) and
suspension of the license to manufacture, assemble, import or distribute for a
period of two (2) years for the second violation; and a fine of fifty thousand
‘pesos (P50,000.00) and suspension of the license to manufacture, assemble,
import or distribute for a period of five (5) years for the third violation.

Sec. 11 Nationwide Public Information Campaign. - (a) The LTO, in coordination
with the Philippine Information Agency (PIA), the Department of Education
(DepEd) and private agencies and organizations, shall undertake a regular
nationwide Information Education and Communication (IEC) campaign for the


attainment of the objectives of this Act. The campaign shall stress the safety and
health value of riding with headlights on while using the motorcycle on all roads
at all times of the day and night to support the most effective enforcement of this
Act.

(b) The LTO, in coordination with the local government units, shall likewise
utilize the services of citizen groups and community organizations for the
promotion of public safety awareness in observance of and compliance
with this Act.

(c) The fines that will be collected for the enforcement of this Act shall be
used exclusively for the implementation of the provisions of this Act,
including the necessary promotion campaigns for the compliance with
Section 4 hereof.

Sec. 12. Separability Clause. - If any provision or part hereof is held invalid or
unconstitutional, the remainder of this Act or any other provisions not otherwise
affected thereby shall remain valid and subsisting.

Sec, 13. Repealing Clause, - Section 34 (h), Article IV of Republic Act No. 4136 is
hereby amended and, furthermore, any law, executive order, decree, issuance,
ordinance, rule and regulation or any part thereof contrary to or inconsistent
with the provisions of this Act is also hereby repealed, modified or amended
accordingly.

Sec, 14 Effectivity Clause, + This Act shall take fifteen (15) days after its publication
in at least two (2) nation newspapers of general circulation.

RDE JR.