Use of cellular phone while driving may soon be declared a criminal act as the House Bill seeks to illegalize the use of mobile communication devices while operating a vehicle moves a step closer to becoming a law.
The Anti-Mobile Communication Devices Use While Driving Act of 2010 was approved on its third and final reading by members of the House of Representatives. Under the bill, other electronic devices banned while driving include wireless telephones, two-way radios, walkie-talkies, pagers and beepers. Speaker phones and other hands-free devices which allow a person to "make and receive calls without having to hold the mobile communication device" will be allowed.
The ban on mobile communication devices will be banned on drivers operating the following vehicles:
- Engine-driven vehicles such as, but not limited to, automobiles, trucks, vans, buses, jeeps, motorcycles and tricycles
- Agricultural machineries like tractors
- Construction equipment like graders, rollers, backhoes, payloaders, cranes, bulldozers, mobile concrete mixes
- Two-wheeled vehicles like bicycles and habal-habal
- Other modes of transportation like kuliglig, wagons, carriages, carts, sledges, chariots--whether animal- or human-powered
The bill calls for a fine from P1,000 to P10,000 and revocation of driver's license as penalty for vehicle operators violating the act which may soon become a law.
After the approval from the House of Representatives, the bill will be forwarded to the Senate for further readings and approval before it may be turned in to law.
