Helmets In Bohol

[sandwichmaker]

It seems the local government here is at war with poor people and their ability to get around. Motorbike transport is crucial here in Bohol because it is an affordable form of transport, especially when you put 4 on a motorbike, which is very common here. Who can really carry around 4 helmets?

 

They obviously know it's not reasonable that's why they hardly enforce it. I won't be wearing one but I will pray I don't get fined. Someone here said the fine is P3,000. Anyone know if that's true? 

 

http://www.theboholstandard.com/fpage.php?issue=279&s1=4775

 

It seems weird when you consider many US states have no helmet requirement. Yet here they do.

[Jack Peterson]

They obviously know it's not reasonable that's why they hardly enforce it. I won't be wearing one but I will pray I don't get fined. Someone here said the fine is P3,000. Anyone know if that's true? 

 

 

 The fines are on a sliding scale, the exact amounts I can't remember. They start at 500 p for first offence and then escalate to what I can remember is 2000p  Then, we talk licence suspension. BUT the chief of the LTO in Bohol, was at one time, in Dumaguete, he was moved, as he was rampant about this law which is totally ignored in Dumaguete. He cited, Officials of the local and Provincial Governments so, I would not worry too much. Mr Ramos is a total Joke, as is the law to a degree, where the traffic is so slow and wearing a helmet, can be more dangerous than not wearing one.

 

:tiphat:

 

BTW he even tried to enforce the non use of sandals /Slippers by the driver  but when he tried to cite a council member, who owned a Shoe shop, he was laughed at in court. need I say more but like many laws here, they are only enforced against the Foreigner.  Happy riding SM

 

Ps I do hope Crad will listen to you.

[MikeB]

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding but you seem to be saying the helmet laws are unreasonable because poor people can't afford them. I won't even comment on that but if I was a foreigner on vacation riding around the Philippines on a motorbike the last thing I would be concerned with is getting fined for not wearing a helmet. My priority would be staying alive but my perspective is a little skewed since I'm about 99% sure that wearing one saved my one and only life in 2011. As for the locals, they've been doing this a long time, they'll be fine.  

[crad]

enforcement of wearing helmets is beginning to move into the province now. It is not just in the cities. Everyone knows now that you will get a pull in like Lapu Lapu if you don't wear a helmet, if you do not wear a helmet in Lapu Lapu you will not last long. You will be pulled in a matter of minutes, not hours. How many people do you see driving around in Manila not wearing helmets. It is virtually nil. It has been a rural vs. urban thing. So like in Cebu you could get away with it in Compostela and outwards, but once you get to like Consolacion, which is pretty much where urban Cebu city starts, you had better wear a helmet because if you don't, then you will likely get pulled. And by the time you get to Mandaue and Lapu Lapu almost everybody is wearing helmets. I also got pulled in even Toledo city for not wearing a helmet, again it is rural vs. urban thing, in Balamban you won't have any problems but in Toledo you might, Toledo is another place where you had better wear a helmet now even though, like Dumaguete, it is not a big city - only 150,000. The cop who gave me the lecture in Toledo and to whom I handed over the 200 peso fine said that they cracking down on it all over the Philippines. Helmets is clearly one of Benny boy in  little hobby horses.

 

even in the province you are needing to wear helmets more and more. In February I was staying very close to Benoni town on  Camiguin and drove into town like 1km where I happened upon a huddle of guys while I was parkling the bike who were just at that very moment getting a talk from a cop about that they were needing to wear helmets from now on, and that the old days where nobody wore helmets, were drawing to a close. Even on Camiguin.

 

I wasn't wearing a helmet when I inadvertently happened on this scene, which the guys obviously pointed out to the cop who then turned to me and said why wasn't I wearing a helmet. I said that I wasn't wearing a helmet because I was just driving in to use the shops in Benoni and then driving straight back. But were I on my way to Mambajao 17km away, then I definitely would be wearing a helmet. Which is true, actually. For longer drives I always wear a helmet on short ones maybe not. The cop said no you cannot pick and choose when and where to wear it, should wear a helmet all the time, not just some of the time at which point I grovelled and said yes of course you are right I will modify my behaviour in future. He let me off having made his point in front of the men. He didn't fine me.

 

 

. Who can really carry around 4 helmets?

 

 

who says you have to carry around helmets. I usually clip them on to the back rail of the bike rather than just leaving them on the handlebars. If you want to make them a bit more secure you can lock them underneath the seat.

[fred]

Yep!! 5 0n a bike and two babies with the "driver" doing a balancing act whilst texting!!

These idiots are being caught on the causeway with surprise check points at regular intervals now..

The hospital emergencies dept in Ramero hospital have plenty of head and body injury casualties waiting for treatment.. I actually saw them in there once laying in the corridor..Sickening really.

[jon1]

I look at this as a moot point and hope that the non-helmet riders abide themselves by stepping out of the gene pool. I always wear a helmet and would have sustained serious injuries in my accident 4 years ago if I hadn't. 

 

The 4-8 people on a bike is on them if they want to move about without a helmet and wear slippers/shorts. For me I always wear kevlar jeans, helmet and gloves as a minimum.

 

Why worry about carrying 4+ helmets? The bikes are not meant for more than 2 passengers anyways. 

 

As a foreigner, worry about yourself in abiding by the laws and let the retards take care of themselves...

[crad]

5 0n a bike and two babies with the "driver" doing a balancing act whilst texting!!

 

it is very difficult if not virtually impossible to text, while driving a motorcycle, unlike a bicycle. Have you ever tried it yourself. You have to be left handed for a start as right handers cannot usually text with their 'other' left hand and the right hand has to be continually on the rev while you are in motion. Left handers have a chance, but it is still very difficult. I am left handed and it is not unknown for me to get the phone out at lights and text while keeping my right hand on the rev, if I were right handed I would have to change gear to neutral to do this.  I have only seen one guy texting on a moving motorbike, he had no passengers and he was going at a very low speed, it was in the centre of Danao city. Of course he was left handed, or at least he was texting with his left hand it being impossible for a moving motorcycle to be driven by somebody texting with their right hand. So that basically rules out 90% of the population who are right handed from even attempting to do it.

[Thomas]

It seems weird when you consider many US states have no helmet requirement. Yet here they do.

Oh! I didn't know some USA states are THAT stupid  :mocking:

 

(In Sweden it's even a helmet law at BICYCLES.  (I believe it's up to 13 years of age).  Sweden have very few deaths in traffic...  But I think it's to low speed limites in many places, because the only - few - times I have had accidents are when I have driven SLOW  :mocking:  so I lost concentration...)

[scott h]

But I think it's to low speed limites in many places, because the only - few - times I have had accidents are when I have driven SLOW so I lost concentration...)

 

Thomas, the real reason Sweden has so few accidents is because you guys can only drive half the year.................the rest of the time its dark and covered with snow :hystery:

[OnMyWay]

I look at this as a moot point and hope that the non-helmet riders abide themselves by stepping out of the gene pool. I always wear a helmet and would have sustained serious injuries in my accident 4 years ago if I hadn't. 

 

The 4-8 people on a bike is on them if they want to move about without a helmet and wear slippers/shorts. For me I always wear kevlar jeans, helmet and gloves as a minimum.

 

Why worry about carrying 4+ helmets? The bikes are not meant for more than 2 passengers anyways. 

 

As a foreigner, worry about yourself in abiding by the laws and let the retards take care of themselves...

 

I always wear a helmet too.

 

When I was 17 I was not wearing my helmet on my motorcycle and I broadsided a car that turned in front of me, at about 30 mph.  Luckily, I was not able to brake at all or I would have been in bad shape, plastered against the car.  I launched about 30 feet over the car, doing a forward roll in the air, just missing landing on my skull, and landed on my neck / shoulders / back.  My momentum put me back standing!  My only injury was a dent in my thigh from hitting the handle bar on the way up.  Someone was watching over me that day and I never rode again without a helmet.  I used up one of my 9 lives.

 

Two times on a bicycle I have smashed a helmet so bad that it would have put a big hole in my head, once on the road and once on a trail.