Look Who Is Wearing That Helmet!

I saw this as we sped somewhere along the National Road in "Leyte, Leyte"...

That's in the town of Leyte in the province of Leyte, commonly pronounced by locals as "leyte-leyte".

Teka, trivia muna: The town of Leyte is one of the few non-capital towns or cities that bear the same name as its province. The capital of Leyte Province is Tacloban City. Unlike Cebu-Cebu, Tarlac-Tarlac, Iloilo-Iloilo or Batangas-Batangas, right? Well, Cavite City is not the capital of Cavite Province, though it was for a time. Why am I saying this here? Wala lang. Trivia nga lang eh! Okay, back to the picture!

Here is a closer look. I cringed and quivered at seeing that there is a "baby on board". Nakatayo pa!

From the looks of it, I think she is even having a fantastic joy ride of her life. It's not as if this was the first time I saw something like this. In some of my previous stories, I think I already mentioned things similar to this "phenomenon" that we all know is actually "illegal". Ah we know too, it's difficult to stop.

This one though, is different from previous "sightings" I had in this country...

It made me angry I wanted to stop them and whack that helmet on the driver's head instead. I feel a lot insulted in behalf of those "passengers" who, probably, do not even think or give a hoot about it.

Look, there are five (5) human beings on that motorbike - the woman holding the egg trays, the baby in a red dress, the man in blue shirt holding the baby (probably the baby's father?), the driver, and a kid in between both men. For clarity, just look at their feet. That foot next to the driver's can't be the baby's!

Four passengers and look who is wearing a helmet - just the driver. What is he really thinking? That in case of accident, bahala'g maunsa ang pasahero basta siya nga driver safe kay nag-helmet, ganun?

Animal! Mapungot lagi ko!

Section 3 of RA 10054 says "All motorcycle riders, including drivers and back riders, shall at all times wear standard protective motorcycle helmets while driving, whether long or short drives, in any type of road and highway". Does this mean a driver goes free if they are apprehended? I think that law should be amended to say that a driver's neck should be wringed for conveying passengers without helmets.

Promise. Nanggagalaiti ako!

Why? Because I know how unsafe it is being on a motorbike (whether as driver or as passenger) not wearing a helmet. It's a protective gear - I don't care if it has an ICC whatever or none. Just wear one!

Helmets already saved my life, twice.