Bohol Governor, Art Yap, said that the backrider shield design he initially proposed to the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) will no longer be required once backriding is allowed in Bohol.
The Governor made the announcement last Friday, in response to mounting criticisms over rider and backrider safety, and the additional burden of the monetary cost especially in this time of crisis.
For now, backriding is still not allowed in Bohol. Governor Yap echoed Pasig City mayor, Vico Sotto’s earlier announcement that backriding or pillion riding throughout the province will not be permitted as of yet, until the IATF issues national-level guidelines to the people.
Costly, unsafe, impractical
In a June 18 article by MotoPinas.com, motorcycle safety experts have pointed out the backrider shield’s design may pose serious dangers to both rider and pillion. Professionals who frequently handle the material that make up the backrider shield say it is brittle and may break into dangerous shards in the event of a crash. They also mentioned it may be costly to construct, amounting anywhere from PhP1,500 to PhP3,000.
Source: The Bohol Chronicle
