AHO required on new bikes

The house of representatives has recently passed House Bill 8322, which requires all motorcycle riders to turn on their headlights while in operation, whether day or night on all roads. The bill also requires new motorcycles to be sold with the Automatic Headlights On (AHO) system, and prohibits the sale or importation of any motorcycle without the system. The bill is principally authored by Rep. Mariano Michael Velarde, Jr. (Party-list, Buhay).

The House said the bill is part of a more to “pursue a more proactive and preventive rather than merely remedial or reactionary approach through the mandatory enforcement of a low-cost method to lessen and prevent road crashes.”

Under the bill a motorcycle is required to have one or two working headlights. Whether it is equipped with a single beam or multiple beam, the headlights must be, “of sufficient intensity to reveal a person or a vehicle 1) at any distance of not less than 30.5 meters when the motorcycle is operated at any speed less than 40.225 kilometers per hour, 2) at any distance of not less than 61 meters when operated at a speed of 40.225 to 56.315 kilometers per hour and, 3) at a distance of 91.5 meters when operated at a speed greater than 56.315 kilometers per hour.”

“If the motorcycle has a multi-beam headlight, then the upper beam must meet the minimum requirement set forth above. If there is a single beam headlight, it must be aimed so that when the motorcycle is loaded, none of the high intensity portion of the light, at a distance of 7.625 meters ahead, will project higher than the level of the center of the lamp from which it comes.

Once the Act is implemented, the Bill suggests penalties starting at P1,000 - P2,000 for the first offense, up to P5,000 and suspension of license for one month for the third and succeeding violations. Any motorcycles without the system will not be allowed to be registered nor their registration renewed until they are fitted with the AHO system. Any manufacturer, assembler, importer, or distributor will also be penalized and their license to distribute suspended, for each unit sold without the AHO system.

Finally, the Land Transportation Office (LTO), in coordination with the Philippine Information Agency (PIA), the Department of Education (DepEd), private agencies and organizations concerned, shall undertake a nationwide information, education and communication campaign to attain the objectives of the Act.