Duterte signs law on child safety in motor vehicles

MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte has signed a law that prohibits children 12 years old and below from sitting in the front seat of vehicles with a running engine or while traveling on the road.

Duterte signed Republic Act 11229 or Child Safety in Motor Vehicle law last Feb. 22, but which was released about three weeks later by the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office.

“(The law guarantees) the safety and welfare of infants and children and prevents traffic-related deaths and injuries,” the measure reads.

The use of child restraint systems in motor vehicles follows United Nations standards, it added.

Under the law, the driver is required to properly secure a child in a restraint system unless the child is at least 4.92 feet and can be properly secured by a regular seat belt.

The Department of Trade and Industry is mandated to use standards set forth in United Nations Regulation 44 and UN regulation 129, covering child restraint systems that will be manufactured, sold, distributed and used in the Philippines. 

The law also mandates that the Department of Transportation conduct a study and recommend to Congress the use of child restraint systems in public utility vehicles and all vehicles used for public transport.

Drivers found to have violated the law and those caught to have allowed children to sit in front shall be fined P1,000 for the first offense.

Second-time offenders will be fined P2,000 while third-time violators will be fined P5,000 and their driver’s license suspended for one year. 

Any manufacturer, distributor, importer and retailer who sells substandard child restraint system shall be penalized with not less than P50,000 but not more than P100,000 for every product sold or distributed in the market.

 Any driver who allows the use of substandard and/or expired child restraint system or permits the use of such shall be fined P1,000 for the first offense or up to P5,000 for the third and succeeding offenses and the suspension of driver’s license for one year.