How Well Are Traffic Laws Enforced In The Philippines?

[Americano]

How well are Traffic Laws enforced in the Philippines?

 

The answer to that question varies depending on the City or area.  I live in Carcar City which is about a 1 1/2 hour ride South of Cebu City on a very busy street which is one block from the main highway.

 

This afternoon I was out on my terrace which faces the street and decided to get some information concerning traffic law violations in this City. 

 

January 1, 2013 was the implementation date of the new law requiring motorcycle helmets to be approved and a sticker on each helmet.  The national law requiring a helmet for all motorcycles riders has been in effect for a few years. From my 3rd floor terrace it would be almost impossible to see any stickers so I just counted helmets.

 

Of the first 100 riders only one was wearing a helmet = 1% Riders with a Helmet

 

It only took about 10 minutes to count 100 riders and I thought there could be more with a helmet in the next 100 so after a few minutes I started counting again.

 

Of the second 100 riders only one was wearing a helmet = 1% again

 

In August 2012 LTO personnel gave me, a foreigner, a ticket for Over Loading for having two back riders.  LTO law says you can only have one back rider so I started counting the number of riders on each motorcycle that passed by.  Every number that is 3 or higher is a violation of the law. Here's the numbers I counted and wrote down:

 

2 1 1 2 4 2 1 1 2 1 3 1 1 2 3 1 1 3 2 2 1 2 4 1 1 2 3 1 2 1 2 2 1 1 1 2 3 4 3 3 3 1 2 1 2 3 1 2 2 2 1 2 1 2 3 3

 

4 2 2 2 1 2 2 3 3 3 3 2 2 2

 

Results:  Of the 71 motorcycles passing by 19 motorcycles had 3 or more riders.

 

All motor vehicles operating on the road or streets at night are required to have a operational head light.  Other lights are required too but it would have been too difficult for me to count all inoperable lights.

 

In just 15 minutes tonight here is how many vehicles that passed by with no operational head light.

M = Motorcycle  T = Tricycle

 

M M T M M T M M M M M M T T M M T  =  17 Head Light Violations in just 15 minutes.

 

 

Total of the 3 Violations I observed in just 15 minutes:

 

99 No Helmets + 19 Over Loaded + 17 No Head Light = 135 Violations

 

 

135 easily visible violations.  How many violations would there be if all requirements were checked?

 

[i am bob]

I thought traffic laws were only for if you are a Kano and sometimes (maybe) others in a traffic accident...  (always the Kano in a traffic accident regardless of who was at fault!)

 

:mocking:

[Bruce]

Forget about other people and what they are doing. YOU represent 2 things. 1st is the ability to actually pay a traffic ticket and 2nd There is a chance you cary your license in a little bifold holder with a 500p note tucked inside.

 

Either way the traffic officer is happy. And does not have to hear any crap stories or have to deal with being related by blood or marriage to any traffic offenders.  

 

Remember YOU have a target on your back all the time.

 

PS..... Welcome to the Philippines! (Where dirving is more fun)

Edited February 17, 2013 by Bruce

[bootleultras]

I always find it depends on the time of day too...... We like to call it jolibee time, a time when the traffic enforcers actually do there job in the hope of finding someone( preferably foreign)who will fund there breakfast, lunch, dinner.......

[JJReyes]

Forget about other people and what they are doing. YOU represent 2 things. 1st is the ability to actually pay a traffic ticket and 2nd There is a chance you cary your license in a little bifold holder with a 500p note tucked inside.

 

My wife and her close friend were stopped on EDSA in Makati by a group of traffic enforcers standing at the corner. She is blond and blue eyed married to a Filipino businessman for more than 40 years. She drove because her driver was sick that day. The violation was going through a red light. Never mind that 10 other cars drove through the light behind them. The police officer refused to give her a ticket or release them. He was waiting for her to hire a good lawyer named, "Benigno Aquino." The reply was, "I am sorry, but my regualr lawyer is Manuel Quezon." After some argument, the agreement was a compromise and she was to hire "Manuel A. Roxas." My wife couldn't figure out what was going on. It was explained later that Aquino is the face on a P500 note, Quezon on a P20 note and Roxas on the P100. 

 

Makati is considered a very sophisticated city and conversations with police officers have to be very polite.

Edited February 17, 2013 by JJReyes

[jpbago]

Here, the police do not get paid for court time if it happens on their days off. They can't take a chance that the court date will be on a working day, so they don.t write tickets. It is easier to do nothing. Except to foreigners, who pay the fine on the spot (Jolibee time). If everyone had to pay for every traffic violation, many millions of pesos could be collected.....and where would the money go........?

[sjp52]

Forget about other people and what they are doing. YOU represent 2 things. 1st is the ability to actually pay a traffic ticket and 2nd There is a chance you cary your license in a little bifold holder with a 500p note tucked inside.

 

Either way the traffic officer is happy. And does not have to hear any crap stories or have to deal with being related by blood or marriage to any traffic offenders.  

 

Remember YOU have a target on your back all the time.

 

PS..... Welcome to the Philippines! (Where dirving is more fun)

 

I was told by an off duty cop (friend of the family ) That 200 pesos is the norm. When I was pulled over ( no helmet. no registration, and something else ) I was told the fines would be a total of 4500 pesos and 1 day in a driving school of some sort. The cop  said I am going to be your friend today if we can work it out right here. I said how much ? He said how much you want to pay. So I took out 500 and he made me go behind a tree with him to pay him out of site. I paid him 500 before I had talked to the off duty cop. When I first got to the Philippines I was so use to people waving to me that a few times I have been waved over by the police and just waved back and kept on driving thinking they were just being friendly, But no one ever came after me.

[OnMyWay]

Of the first 100 riders only one was wearing a helmet = 1% Riders with a Helmet

 

Maybe they are in a grace period?

 

Seems to be very regional too.

 

I thought about the helmets while out on National Hwy in Laguna today, and probably saw 50 cycles.  100% helmets.

 

They don't allow multiple back riders on the main hwy either.  You might see it once in a while.  You see them on the side streets in the neighborhoods sometimes.  We use a trike driver who will have his son sit on the tank in front of him while we are on the side streets, but when we go on the hwy he crawls into the sidecar with us.  Apparently he go a ticket / fine for having him on the tank, on the hwy.

[Americano]

The very first time I was stopped for not wearing a helmet and for over loading I was given a ticket.  When some of our Filipino friends heard about the ticket they couldn't believe it, they wondered why I didn't just get a warning like they do.

 

Later I told my wife, after we got the ticket  we should have sit there a while to see if any Filipinos were given tickets too.

 

I know I could have given him a bribe but paying a bribe just encourages more corruption.  If no one paid a bribe a lot of the corruption would end.   Its not my responsibility to buy corrupt people a meal at Jollibees and I refuse to do it. I would rather pay the ticket at the LTO office.  The only thing I hate is the double standard.  One for Filipinos and one for foreigners.

[Bundy]

How well are traffic laws enforced?.......................Geez, and all this time i didn't know there were any :hystery:  :hystery:  :hystery:

 

Seriously, as with most everything else here there is one rule for locals and another for the likes of you and me. I too am living away from the main road in Carcar and i'd say i've seen maybe 1 or 2 wearing a helmet in the past 2 weeks! Now, if you or me do it, how long would it be before we're stopped?...........i'd say not very long at all.

 

I'm a smartarse, i don't ride a bike at the moment, and if i see a cop while driving i just wind up the windows (full tint all round).