Motorcycle riders commit road traffic violations as much as car drivers. They are ticketed for driving without a license, for not wearing a helmet or for not wearing a proper one, among other infractions.
There are many cases of riders who were pulled over for not wearing the standard helmet. Under Republic Act 10054, or the Motorcycle Helmet Act of 2009, a standard rider helmet is one inspected and approved by the Department of Trade and Industry to ensure that its shell can withstand extreme force and pressure during a road crash.
The modified helmet that looks like the head of the alien warrior character in the movie Predator is not a standard helmet and riders wearing it have been flagged and ticketed. The Inter-Agency Council for Traffic warns riders using such fancy headgear that it cannot protect them from injury in case of an accident, because modifications, like holes drilled on its shell, compromise its durability.
Another illegal motorcycle helmet is the nutshell helmet for bicycle riders and skateboarders. Some riders who use it endanger themselves because nutshells have thinner shells and don’t cover much of the head, thus exposing them to serious injury in case of a crash.
Not all careless riders abuse road safety rules. Traffic enforcers themselves add to the problem by being lax on violators, which encourages violation.
In a recent traffic violation incident in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan, enforcers flagged down a delivery rider because his backrider had no helmet. In a video of the apprehension that went viral on social media, the traffic enforcers did not issue a citation ticket to the rider and even happily let him go with his backrider still without a helmet.
No deliberate negligence on the part of the traffic enforcers was committed for their action as the helmetless backrider was just a mannequin being delivered by the rider to a customer, according to GMA News 24 Oras.