The riding-in-tandem ban

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor CHERYL CRUZ Desk Editor PATRICK PANGILINAN Busines Editor NIDA A. BUENAFE Sports Editor RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

The proposal to ban motorcyclists from sharing their vehicles, or having backriders in the practice now popularly referred to as “riding in tandem”, has raised an uproar among owners and users of this transportation mode that has become very popular in our country.

There is enough reason to stop the use of motorcycles by more than one person, because of the danger that poses along the country’s roads and highways where they are exposed to accidents caused by being hit by bigger and more powerful ones like buses, trucks, and even jeepneys and cars.

There is also the very dangerous practice of motorcycle owners and drivers of allowing not one, but two or more riders as they speed through city streets and even on the highways. In Bacolod alone, it is not uncommon to see motorcycles having three or four, even five riders, some with very small children hanging on as the unit speeds along.

While it is admitted that the motorcycle has been a boon to those who cannot afford costlier vehicles, and who find them more convenient in negotiating traffic, the risks are also too great, as we have seen in the hundreds of accidents involving them, many with fatal results.

But the most reprehensible use of backriders on motorcycles is that by criminals, especially perceived to be guns-for-hire, who also find it the most convenient, not only for locating and targeting their victims, but also for getting away from the crime scene. The frequency of such crimes are what have prodded the proponents of the ban to act.

There are good reasons from those opposing the ban as there are from those proposing it. Somewhere, there must be a middle way where the use of this vehicle for legitimate purposes and that for criminal intentions can be found. Let us hope that our officials find an acceptable way of both preventing the illegal activities of those riding-in-tandem, and allowing those who need it for earning a living, transporting their family members to school and other missions.*