A lawmaker has proposed a nine-hour daily driving limit to deal with fatigue among public utility drivers.

“Driver fatigue is among the leading causes of potentially fatal road accidents in the Philippines,” ACT-CIS party-list Rep. Samuel Pagdilao, Jr. said in his House Bill 5271 or  “An Act providing daily driving limits for trucks, buses and other public utility vehicles.”

The measure covers trucks, buses and other motorized vehicles classified as public utility vehicles covered by Certificates of Public Conveyance issued by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB).

“In the United States, the US Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration mandates a maximum daily driving limit of 10 to 11 hours. In Europe, drivers observe a daily driving limit of 9 to 10 hours only,” Pagdilao said.

Section 4 of the proposed Act provides: “The driving limit shall be nine (9) hours for each 24-hour period. However, the daily driving time may be extended to at most ten (10) hours not more than twice during a week.”

Likewise, Section 5 of the proposed “Daily Driving Limit Act of 2014” states: “After driving a continuous period of four and a half (4½) hours, a driver shall take an uninterrupted break of not less than thirty (30) minutes. This mandatory period shall not be included in the computation of the daily driving limit.”

Also proposed is a duty status on a) Date; b) Name of Driver; c) Motor Vehicle License Plate; d) Name of Operator/Owner/Company, if any; e) 24-hour period starting time; f) Total kilometers driving today; g) Total hours driving; and h) Signature of Driver.

Pagdilao’s proposal also include imprisonment and fines for violators.

Article via MST.ph and the full article is available here.