Thank you, Mr. President.

As I rise today, I am with the thousands of motorcycle riders nationwide who wish that the Helmet Act of 2009 be passed into law at the earliest possible time.

The Department of Health has expressed its alarm that mortality rate from motorcycle accidents is constantly increasing. It maintains that motorcycle accidents are the kind of traffic mishaps that most often result to death. No less than the Asian Development Bank conveyed its “growing concern” to the growing number of motorcycle accidents in the last three years.

As compared to cars, motorcycles are an especially dangerous mode of transportation. Because of the nature of motorbikes, motorcyclists are more prone to crash injuries than car drivers. Because motorcycles are unenclosed, riders are more vulnerable to contact hard road surfaces.

Mr. President, halos lahat naman ng motorcycle-accident-related deaths ay dahil sa head injuries. Studies have shown that it is possible to address this concern through a simple and practical way.

Ito na nga Mr. President, and simpleng pagsusuot ng isang standard quality helmet.  The Helmet is the principal countermeasure for reducing crash-related head injuries. The World Health Organization maintains that wearing a helmet is the single most effective way of reducing head injuries and fatalities resulting from motorcycle crashes. Wearing a helmet has been shown to decrease the risk and severity of injuries among motorcyclists by about 70% and the likelihood of deaths by almost 40%. These are designed to cushion and protect riders’ heads from the impact of the crash. Just like safety belts in cars, helmets cannot provide total protection against head injury or death, but these do reduce the incidence of both.

Many countries have succeeded in raising rates of helmet use through adopting laws that make helmet use compulsory, enforcing these laws and raising public awareness about the laws, as well as the benefits of helmet use.

Tignan po natin ang Thailand, halimbawa.  Noong 1992, 90% ng lahat ng namamatay dahil sa traffic-related injuries ay mga naka-motor.  Hindi pa mandatory ang pagsusuot ng helment noon. Just two years later, after a legislation passed in the north-eastern province of Khon Kaen to make helmet use mandatory was passed, there was a 40% reduction in head injuries among motorcyclists and a 24% drop in motorcyclist deaths. There is also a considerable long list of other countries which have laws on mandatory helmet use, such as the US, Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Singapore, and 31 others. The first motorcycle helmet use law in the world took effect on January 1, 1961, in Victoria, Australia.

Sa pagpanukala ng SBN 1863, o ang Helmet Act of 2009, gusto nating isabatas ang pagsusuot ng standard quality helmets ng mga nagmomotor dito sa ating bansa.  The intention of this law is of course rider safety.

The importance of increasing helmet use follows dramatic growth in motorization around the world, largely from increasing use of motorized two-wheelers, particularly in Asian countries. In the Philippines, records show that there has been a dramatic increase in motorcycle purchase, registration and use in the thoroughfares.

Mula sa makikitid na kalsada hanggang sa malalawak na daanan, karaniwan nang makikita ang mga motorsiklo at scooter, araw man o gabi. Sa ating statistics, umaabot na sa 3.5 milyon ang mga motorsiklo sa Pilipinas, na kumakatawan sa 45 percent ng lahat ng rehistradong sasakyan sa bansa.

Together with this increase is the alarming statistics of growing incidents of road mishaps, specifically those involving motorcycles.

Citing figures gathered by the Traffic Operations Center of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) from January to December 2006, motorcycles have the highest fatality rate with 122 motorcycles involved, or 23.60 percent of the total fatal accidents. Mga registered pa lang ito, eh paano naman ang mga unregistered? This was followed by cars with 113 accidents or 21.86 per cent.  For non-fatal accidents, cars have the highest rate with 30.22 percent share followed by motorcycles with 25.59 percent.

Furthermore, a report of the Traffic Management Group (TMG) showed that out of the total 14,202 traffic accidents in year 2004, 3,010 or 21 percent involved motorcycles.

It is alarming that the figures rose to 24 percent or 2,798 out of 11,425 accidents in 2005.  In the first two months of 2006, the TMG recorded a total of 485 motorcycle accidents out of the total 1,364 accidents, which accounted for 35 percent of the total traffic accidents.   ‘Di po ba’t lubos itong nakakabahala?

Habang dumarami ang gumagamit ngayon ng motorsiklo, kailangan nating masiguro ang kanilang kaligtasan.  We must uphold that the first and foremost priority is safety and we must utilize all avenues available to promote this intention. Wearing of helmets will greatly reduce fatalities in road accidents and would also boost a sense of discipline to all motorcycle riders.

Some groups on the other hand, Mr. President, criticize helmet use because they claim it reduces peripheral vision and hearing. However, there are not enough and credible evidence to prove this claim.

Hindi naman kailangan magpa-ekis ekis sa lansangan ang mga nagmomotor na parang kumakarera.  At, suma total Mr. President, mas mahalaga ang buhay na maililigtas ng helmet kaysa anumang bagay pa.  We maintain that helmet use saves lives.

This proposed measure Mr. President, provides for mandatory helmet use for motorcycle riders. The driver, and the back rider, shall wear standard quality helmets while riding a motorcycle, regardless of distance, time, place, and type of road or highway.

To determine the standard quality type of helmet, the Department of Trade and Industry is called to task by this Act.  May I inform you, Mr. President that already, the DTI has come up with the standards. Handa na po silang ipatupad ang mga guidelines na ito, at ang kulang na lang ay ang batas na magtatakdang maging mandatory ito.  To implement the provisions of this Act is the Department of Transportation and Communications. The Land Transportation Office, as an attached agency to the DOTC, shall help in the implementation and the operation of this Act. Under this proposed measure, a penalty of P3,000.00 to P20,000 will be meted out to violators. Ang eksaktong halaga ng babayarang penalty ay magiging depende kung ilang beses nang nahuhuli na ‘di sumusunod ang violator.

It should be noted that drivers of tricycles shall be exempted from the coverage of this proposal, Mr. President.  Tricycles are already prohibited from major thoroughfares which have high traffic and where accidents mostly occur.  Also, having three wheels, tricycles are more stable on the road.

Some camps argue that a legislative enactment is no longer necessary, and that what is needed is simply a strengthened motorcycle safety education program for riders to consider their own safety. They assert that enough space must be given for self-regulation. If we follow this argument, then we should not have passed the seatbelt law which has the same purpose and intent of this proposal.  Incidentally, despite the Seatbelt Act, a dominant majority still do not use their seatbelts.