Metro bus operators to defy new Seat Belt Law

Metro bus owners will defy Republic Act 8750 or the Seat Belt Law until the government reviews their complaints about its alleged flawed provisions.

"We’ll install seat belts on the driver’s seat but as far as the prescribed passenger seat belts are concerned, many things still need to be clarified," said Cesar Apolinario, president of the Integrated Metro Bus Operators Association (IMBOA).

Apolinario noted that IMBOA finds the various configurations of the required seat belts for buses "very confusing." He cited that some bus types are required to have three-point seat belts but this is not possible because of the window glass panel of the bus where the devices are supposed to be attached.

IMBOA feared that the varying configurations of seat belts would only expose the drivers to abuses by untrained enforcers. "There is a clear and very apparent danger that the very quantity and variety of configurations relative to the wearing of passenger seat belts shall lay their drivers and operators open to unscrupulous enforcers," he added.

According to Apolinario, the law violates the fundamental rights of drivers who are liable if their passengers refuse to wear seat belts.

"They cannot be made to answer for and be penalized as a result of the failure of their passengers to obey the law. They are not law enforcers," he said. – Sheila Crisostomo