LAND TRANSPORTATION RELATED LAWS /REPUBLIC ACT NO. 10913 – “ANTI-DISTRACTED DRIVING ACT”
AN ACT DEFINING AND PENALZING DISTRACTED DRIVING
It is hereby declared the policy of the State to safeguard its citizenry from the ruinous and extremely injurious effects of vehicular crash.
While the State recognizes the vital roles of information and communications technology in nation-building, the State also takes cognizance of the inimical consequences of the unrestrained use of electronic mobile devices on road safety as to cause its regulation.
A law prohibiting all motorists to use any communications device while the motor vehicle is in motion or temporarily stopped at a traffic light or intersection whether diplomatic, public or private.
WHAT ARE DISTRACTED DRIVING PROHIBITIONS?
- Composing, sending, or reading mg text messages
- Making or receiving calls
- Watching movies, tv shows, or web videos
- Surfing the internet or performing calculations
- Reading e-books or e-mails
- Playing games via mobile apps or electronic device
EXEMPTIONS
- EMERGENCY CALLS (crime reports, accidents, calamity, bomb threat. Infrastructure failure, animal activism, chemical/hamd spill etc.)
- EMERGENCY SERVICES AGENCIES (electric, gas, water, chemical. towing & other similar services)
The following personnel is exempted as long as they’re responding on emergency situations:
- HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS or MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS
- FIRE DEPARTMENT/VOLUNTEERS or POLICE MOBILES
FINES & PENALTIES
- First Offense – Five thousand pesos (Php 5,000.00)
- Second Offense – Ten thousand pesos (Php 10,000.00)
- Third Offense – Fifteen thousand pesos (Php 15,000.00) and three (3) months suspension of driver’s license
- Fourth Offense – Twenty thousand pesos (Php 20,000.00) and revocation of driver’s license for succeeding offenses
DRIVERS OF THE FOLLOWING
A driver of a public utility vehicle, school service vehicle, common carrier hauling volatile, flammable or toxic material, or a driver who commits an act classified herein as distracted driving within a fifty (50)-meter radius from the school premises shall be subject to a penalty of thirty thousand pesos (Php 30,000.00) and suspension of one’s driver’s license for three (3) months.
Plus, if an offender operating a conveyance or machinery (tractors and construction equipment like graders, rollers, backhoes, payloaders, cranes) and other forms of conveyances such as bicycles, pedicabs, habal-habal, trolleys, “kuligligs”, wagons, carriages, carts, sledges, chariots or the like, whether animal or human-powered which do not require a driver’s license where the public safety is compromised, the penalty shall be impoundment of the conveyance or machinery in lieu of the confiscation of driver’s license and that in the event the fine imposed is not settled within six (6) months from the date of apprehension, the implementing agency shall exhaust all available legal remedies to implement the same.
Source: https://portal.lto.gov.ph/