HB 4917 & 1625: Regulate Texting and Driving

Two House Bills have been proposed that involves using cellphones while driving a vehicle — HB 4917 or the “Anti-Texting While Driving Act Of 2008” and HB 1625 or the “Cell Phone Safety Act”.

The first bill, HB04917, was filed last August 2008 by Rep. Irwin Tieng has the full title “An Act to Prohibit and Penalize Reading, Composing and Sending Electronic Messages while Driving, and for other Purposes”.

The second one (HB01625) was actually submitted much earlier, back in July of 2007, and is authored by Rep. Aurelio Gonzales, Jr. It’s entitled “An Act Regulating the Use of Hand Held Cell Phones by Motorists”.

Both bills attempt to regulated making/receiving phone calls, sending/receiving text messages and probably a lot more. I have no qualms about that but there could be some other relevant usage of the mobile phone while driving that should be exempted. Here are some of the stuff on top of mind:

Allowing use of handsfree devices to receive and make calls. Allowing use of in-car speaker-phones to make or takes calls.
Allowing use of mobile phones while docked for navigational purposes (like using Nokia Maps for Mobile as long as it is docked in the dashboard of a vehicle and not held by hand).
Allowing use of mobile phones as radio receiver and music player.

I believe these exceptions are reasonable and within bounds that will not distract the driver from focusing on the road while driving.

According to a report on Inquirer.net, some people in public service will also be exempted — like ambulance drivers, TV/radio reporters and persons doing official functions on emergency cases.

The bill seeks penalties of up to six months of imprisonment and fines up to Php100,000.

Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

https://www.yugatech.com

8 Comments

web profesional says:

10 years ago

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- Reply
Curtain Panels Â· says:

14 years ago

car speakers should always be a three way system composted of woofer,mid-range and tweeter ~~,
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Plakard says:

16 years ago

Maybe if lawmakers focus a shift on lowering call charges than restricting cellphone liberties making it safer to call than text while on the road.

Calling while driving is like talking to someone beside you. You still got your eyes on the road. Texting would be different… It keeps your eyes off the road. That’s a big difference.

If they’re gonna ban cellphone use. They might as well ban laptops, PDA, drinking coffee and talking to passengers while on the road.
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Plakard says:

16 years ago

I agree with yuga’s suggestions.
Handsfree might be an exemption. I use my phone as a music player in my car so that would merit something different.

I doubt if our police officers and those who will be implementing this law know anything about cellphones. Ask them and they probably have something for simple texting and calling.

Thinking about it…
With the traffic we have nowadays, you can even type a novel and drink coffee while driving…
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jon_loresca says:

16 years ago

It is not true that you will not be distracted when using a handsfree device.

You may argue that you using a handsfree device is similar to talking to a passenger but research prove otherwise.

When having a conversation with a passenger, he may instinctively stop talking when he notices that you are negotiating a dangerous curve, overtaking, or any other maneuvers. The person you are talking to over the phone would not know what is going on hence he might continue talking and continue to distract.
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Anne says:

16 years ago

I guess the lawmakers don’t know about this thing we call BLUETOOTH HEADSETS. Someone send them Jabra for Christmas…
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rogerd says:

16 years ago

Tama lang ito. Lalo na sa mga nagte-text while driving a motorbike.
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Bob Reyes says:

16 years ago

This is already implemented in Makati Cit, right?
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