By John Clifford Lintao
DRAG racing embarks on speed along an open road and as such should not be held in public roads. With this on mind, the House committee on transportation approved a measure imposing a ban on drag racing in public roads.
In approving House Bill 3391, introduced by Quezon City Representative Precious Hipolito Castelo, the author said that many lives have already been lost due to drag racing in public roads which she said occurs “at an alarming rate.”
Hipolito-Castelo even cited one incident that took place on January 22, 2017 where two buses raced against each other at a national highway in Sierra Bullones, Bohol, seriously injuring seven people.
“Drag racing in public roads does not have a place in our society. A stringent measure should be enforced against this perilous activity,” Castelo said.
Under the measure, drag racing that involves two or more private motor vehicles driven side by side within a specified distance at accelerating speeds for the purpose of outdoing each other is prohibited.
It also prohibits the driving of motor vehicles to determine their relative speeds or power of acceleration even as they are not necessarily side by side with each other over a common course.
Moreover, the measure likewise bans drag racing which involves public vehicles randomly overtaking each other in order to get passengers first or simply outdistancing each other.
Violators of the provisions of the measure will be meted with a fine of not less than P300,000 but not more than P500,000 and/or imprisonment of one year.
House transportation panel vice chair Aloy Lim proposed that the measure be expanded to regulate drag racing, not just merely prohibit the illegal ones. This, she said, will also include legal drag racing.
Castelo, in response, said she will consider Lim’s proposal.
“If we will define another term for drag racing that is legal, we assume that this would be held in a private area or in a rented semi-private area, I think that will be allowed,” she said.
“What I think is that we can include it in one whereas paragraph. So we can also add it in the title the proposal of Cong. Aloy. But this is all initial deliberation. So without finality, I am willing to consider the proposal of Cong. Aloy,” she added.