Motorcycle Philippines

(From Philstar.Com)

The Metro Manila Council (MMC), the policy-making body of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), has passed a resolution requiring all motorcycle owners and riders to put the license plate numbers of their motorcycle on both sides of their helmets to curb snatching and robberies perpetrated by motorcycle-riding men in Metro Manila.

MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando said the resolution was passed by the MMC during its meeting on Thursday last week and will take effect 15 days after it is published in two newspapers of general circulation.

Fernando said those who attended the council meeting include Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr., outgoing Pasig City Mayor Vicente Eusebio Sr., Valenzuela City Mayor Sherwin Gatchalian, Las Piñas City Mayor Imelda Aguilar, Marikina City Vice Mayor Marion Andres representing Mayor Marides Fernando and representatives of the other Metro mayors and of the Philippine National Police (PNP).

He suggested that the Metro mayors enact a common resolution stipulating that the failure to put the license plate numbers on the helmets of motorcycle owners and riders should be treated as a criminal offense and not as a mere traffic violation to thwart criminals from using motorcycles in the commission of crimes.

“No plate on the helmet should carry with it stiffer penalties – like impounding the motorcycle and the appropriate fines and charges because there is a deliberate attempt by the felon to conceal his identity and avoid positive identification by the public,” Fernando said.

He said the resolution dubbed the “Dual Motorcycle and Helmet License Plate Numbers Policy” provides that the license plate numbers be put on both sides of each helmet using a water-proof sticker in print large enough to be seen by the public.

“It has to be readable from a distance of 25 meters and should be placed 40 millimeters high on the helmet,” Fernando said.

Fernando said the resolution also adopted MMDA’s resolution no. 07-07 that was passed in February implementing the “no face shield” policy for backriders of motorcycles plying main roads and secondary streets in Metro Manila.

He said this policy requires the use of a helmet with its face shield tilted upward to reveal the face of the backrider for easy identification.

Violators of the policy will be slapped with a P3,000 fine.

“The main punishment here is the delay one has to incur, since he will be investigated by our traffic enforcer and even the police for verification if he violates the policy,” Fernando said.

MCP will be posting it’s position on this soon.

I’ve just upgraded the main site of MCP to the latest version of WordPress 2.2.1.

At the same time, I’ve installed some nifty plugin which will allow mobile internet users to view the main site of MCP easily on a wap browser. You may try checking our site using your GPRS/EDGE or 3G phones to see the simple dressed-down look.

I also took the opportunity to do some tweaking on the databases both of our blog and the forums. These are minor tweaks but they’ve reduce the total file sizes of MCP’s DB which is currently around 1.6GB right now.

More server-side updates coming up.

taken during the Visita Iglesia de Vespa ‘07 (photo courtesy of Minggoy)

As reported in the news, the Vatican issued a 36-page document called “Guidelines for the Pastoral Care of the Road” (or the “Ten Commandments for Motorists”) last Tuesday.

The “unusual” document warned about the effects of road rage since, it says, driving brings out “primitive” behavior in motorists, including “impoliteness, rude gestures, cursing, blasphemy, loss of sense of responsibility or deliberate infringement of the highway code.”

But the document didn’t just focus on four-wheel drivers. It particularly cited other traffic problems such as “the reckless use of motorbikes and motorcycles.” *ouch!*

A Catholic nation like the Philippines could use these ‘guidelines’ to make driving on our roads feel more like a ‘walk in the park’ than an every-man-for-himself battleground. There’s nothing in the new commandments that a motorist doesn’t know yet, but it sure helps to be reminded of these simple rules and the ‘holy’ association doesn’t hurt either.

Moses weren’t there during the release and the documents was not carved in stones either, but it did come from the church hierarchy and that is ‘good’ enough (pun intended).

>> Read here THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR MOTORISTS

View the photos here!

Submitted by yadzky.

While reading today’s newspaper, I saw a press release from the World Health Organization (WHO) about its Road Safety Campaign. In it, the organization shared its “Road Marks” campaign series of five posters, created to promote action against the non-use of helmets and seatbelts, drunk-driving, speeding, and visibility among bikers and pedestrians.

The organization urge concerned groups from around the world to reproduce any of these campaign posters to promote road safety; especially among the youth since this age group (age 0 to 25) comprise more than 40% of all road traffic deaths worldwide. So here am I blogging about the campaign to do my little share.

Here’s the poster targeted to motorcycle riders:

[copy] Too late to put on your helmet

Most motorcycle deaths are a resut of head injuries. Wearing a motorcycle helmet correctly can cut the risk of death by almost 40%, and the risk of severe injury by 70%.
Be a part of the solution: wear a helmet.

- – - – - -

So why is the helmet painted on the fallen biker? Well, it’s actually the central ‘theme’ of the whole campaign.

>> See the rest of the posters to better appreciate the witty “paintings.”