Lower House approves anti-drag racing bill on final reading
The House of Representatives has unanimously approved on third and final reading the bill proposing to prohibit drag racing in public roads by drivers of public utility and private-owned vehicles.
Voting 205 affirmative and 0 negative votes, the Lower House on Tuesday, May 16 agreed to send House Bill 8916 to the Senate for approval of a counterpart measure.
Principal author and Quezon City Rep. Precious Hipolito-Castelo lauded the House leadership and the Committee on Transportation for strongly supporting the swift approval of the measure.
Hipolito-Castelo urged the Senate to pass a counterpart to make the country’s road safer from irresponsible motorists.
She said enactment of the measure is expected to reduce if not totally end incidences of drag racing on public roads.
“Deplorably, many lives were snuffed out on account of drag racing in public roads which occurs at an alarming rate,” she said in the explanatory notes of the bill.
“This atrocious practice has resulted in the senseless and totally preventable death of a number of PUV riders and bystanders,” she said.
The bill defines drag racing as “a road race involving two or more vehicles driven side by side within a specified distance at accelerating speeds with the objective to outdo each other, or the employment of vehicles not necessarily driver side by side over a common course for the purpose of determining the relative speeds or power of acceleration of the vehicles.”
The drag racing prohibition would cover “any type of motorized or electric vehicle, which uses a road, street or highway for the conveyance of goods people or goods,” including “four-wheeled, three-wheeled and two-wheeled vehicles.”
The ban would also apply to drag racing on a private road unless permitted by the local government unit concerned.
The proposed penalties are imprisonment of one year, or a fine of P300,000 to P500,000, or both at the discretion of the court.
First time offenders will be suspended from operatin motor vehicles within a six month period.
For the second offense, the offenders drivers license will be confiscated by government.
The Castelo bill also provides for the impounding of any vehicle involved in drag racing. The Land Transportation Office would be mandated to prescribe reasonable fees for the storage of impounded vehicles.