A new special anti-road rage law is expected to be released by the Land Transportation Office of the Philippines.
This was announced by LTO after the recent road rage incident involving a cyclist and a former Quezon City police officer.
LTO Plans To Release New Special Anti-Road Rage Law
Cyclists ride along a bike lane alongside traffic on April 27, 2021, in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines. Many Filipinos, including healthcare workers, are hopping on bicycles as an alternative means of transportation as public transit remains restricted in the Philippines during the world's longest COVID-19 lockdown.
Vigor Mendoza II, LTO's chief assistant secretary, confirmed that they are pushing for the creation of a new law that can clearly penalize and define road rage incidents.
To do this, Mendoza said that they are doing a new study on the definition of road rage, as well as the sanctions that can be implemented.
The LTO official explained that existing rules and regulations on road rage are prohibitive, especially if the happenings don't involve injuries or deaths.
Mendoza said that LTO officials can't easily impose suspension/revocation and a penalty of more than four years because these penalties are only applicable if the road rage incident killed or injured a person.
But, with the new specialized law, drivers in the Philippines who act on anger when driving will not only face a simple violation of the Republic Act 4136.
If their road rage action is worse, then they could also face more serious penalties. LTO said that once they completed their ongoing study, a draft of the special law defining and penalizing road rage will be proposed to Congress.
"We're doing complete staff work for now because it [road rage] is hard to define," said Mendoza via the Philippine News Agency.
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Recent Road Rage Incidents in the Philippines
A cyclist rides along a bike lane alongside traffic on April 27, 2021, in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines. Many Filipinos, including healthcare workers, are hopping on bicycles as an alternative means of transportation as public transit remains restricted in the Philippines during the world's longest COVID-19 lockdown.
As of writing, road rage is a hot topic debated by many Filipinos. This is because of the recent road-raging ex-police officer who threatened a cyclist with his gun.
CNN Philippines reported that the violator was a cop in Quezon City named Wilfredo Gonzales. Based on the viral video, the ex-police went after a cyclist while driving his sedan.
When they both stopped, Gonzales went out of his vehicle and brought out his gun in front of the cyclist named Allan Bandiola.
Aside from the issue of Gonzales, another road rage incident trended on social media. Philstar reported that an SUV driver confronted a taxi driver by drawing his gun.
If you want to learn more details about the latest road rage incidents in the Philippines, you can click here.
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