Mayor bends to public outcry

REFLECTORIZED VESTS

REFLECTORIZED vests for motorcycle riders will no longer required as Mayor Tomas Osmeña announced that he would retract this provision in the traffic ordinace following a barrage of complaints from the public.

“I have received many texts about the council ordinance making reflectorized vests mandatory for motorcycle riders. Given your feedback, I will not let the ordinance to come into effect,” said the mayor in a Facebook post.

On March 28, Osmeña signed City Ordinance No. 2491 sponsored by Councilor David Tumulak, requiring motorcycle riders to wear reflectorized vests at night.

Tumulak said that the ordinance only sought to increase road safety considering the number of vehicular accidents involving motorcycles.

Tumulak said that in most vehicular accidents, motorists do not notice the motorcycles in front of them because of defective rear lights.

A number of netizens lambasted this ordinance citing that road safety can be achieved not by wearing reflectorized vests but by enforcing traffic rules more strictly, adding more street lights, repairing of roads and augmenting the number of traffic enforcers to man the traffic.

Tumulak said he is already amending the ordinance to conform to the feedback of the people.

“During night time, dili na mandatory nga mag-wear og reflectorized vests but light-colored clothes na lang,” said Tumulak.

Instead of the vests, Tumulak also said that only reflector stickers will be placed on the riders’ helmets.

Tumulak said the Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO) was ordered to apprehend drivers of motorcycles with defective rear lights.

However, Osmena clarified that only the rule on reflectorized vests would not be implemented.

The provision on the increase of fines from P500 to P1000 per road violation will still be enforced.