Senator pushes to implement Motorcycle Crime Prevention Law

Your motorcycle plates are finally coming soon as the final design has been approved.

After over a year of waiting, Senator Richard Gordon has finally allowed LTO and its plate supplier to proceed with the design and implementation of the much-awaited motorcycle plates.

It took an early morning ride-by shooting on the vehicle of actress Kim Chiu for Senator Richard Gordon to express his urgent desire to implement Republic Act 11235, otherwise known as the Motorcycle Crime Prevention Act.

More popularly known to motorcyclists as the “Doble Plaka Law”, the law mandates bigger license plates for all motorcycles, including a front plate for added identification by the authorities as well as exorbitant penalties that include jail time for those who are found to be in violation of the said law.

“Riding-in-tandem assassins are still terrorizing the country. There is no time to tarry; there is an urgent need to implement this law to stop these crimes. [We would not be gunned down so easily. We cannot accept here in the Senate a non-solution of those crimes. More people have been killed by riding-in-tandem than coronavirus and that is not funny],” Gordon said, in a mix of English and Filipino (via Business Mirror).

New plate design pushed for motorcycles

The new design for the rear-mounted plate will measure 23.38cm x 13.5cm. As previously agreed upon, the front 'plate' will be in the form of a printed decal, the dimensions of which have yet to be finalized.

Oddly, the new plates will contain three alpha and three numerical figures e.g: AAA 123. Motorcycles currently with plates come with a 2 alphabet and 4 numerical figure combination. 

Our reliable source, who wished anonymity has shared that the good senator himself, insisted on the three alphabets and three numerical figures combination. The concerned parties reluctantly agreed just to proceed with the program to provide the much-needed plates to millions of motorcycle riders.

The new combination would mean that there are only 17,576,000 possible combinations for the said format insisted. The LTO shared in early 2019 that there were about 19 million registered motorcycles. Considering over 2 million motorcycles are sold each year, it would not be long before this allotment of combinations is filled up.

This new development is considered a major deviance from the earlier combination shown at the senate forum wherein it contained a 2 alphabet and 5 numerical digit combination which would result in 67,600,000 possible combinations.

The new plates are scheduled to go into production in May at the robotic plate production facility of the LTO supplied by Trojan Computer Forms Manufacturing Corporation and J.H. Tonnjes E.A.S.T. GmbH & Co KG Joint Venture.