The Motorcycle Crime Prevention Act also known as the Republic Act No 11235 has some very interesting twists for Tuk Tuks like the Bajaj RE, the Piaggio Ape and the TVS King. the most interesting of these is they will be some of the few vehicles that are regarded as motorcycles that are allowed to be sold or imported into the Philippines.
Even though the Bajaj RE is a car LTO for some reason regards it as a Motorcycle or even a Motorcycle with sidecar. Not sure how they came to the conclusion it has a sidecar, but the fact they register it as a Motorcycle means it falls under the Motorcycle Crime Prevention Act.
The fact that it falls under the rules of the Motorcycle Crime Prevention Act is not a problem for the Bajaj RE apart from the fact that large number plates on the front, rear and side will spoil the look of the RE.
Sale of Motorcycles
Section 14 of the Motorcycle Crime Prevention Act covers sales and the import of motorcycles it states:
SEC. 14. Prohibition on Sale and Importation of Non-Compliant Motorcycles. —No person, whether natural or juridical, shall be allowed to sell motorcycles, as defined under Section 3(c) of this Act, unless such motorcycle has the capability to bear and showcase a readable number plate as required under Section 5 of this Act.
Furthermore, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) shall not allow the importation into the country of motorcycles, as defined under Section 3(c) of this Act, whose design will impede the placement of the required number plate on the front and back sides of the motorcycles firmly and securely. Any motorcycle which does not have any capability to bear and showcase the required readable number plate shall not be allowed to be registered with the LTO.
There is plenty of room on the RE to mount large number plates on the front back and sides the same is not true of the vast majority of motorcycles.
So unless they are going to allow the plates to be attached to curved surfaces of the side of a Motorcycle, which would be a hell of a safety risk and will no doubt result in loss of life and limbs most motorcycles will be banned from sale.
Having flat metal or perspex number plates fixed on the curved surfaces of a motorcycle would be like having knives fixed to it if they connect at even low speeds they will penetrate the flesh causing horrific injuries. So we presume this would not be allowed.
The Bajaj RE, TVS King and the Piaggio Ape does not have this problem as there are flat surfaces on the sides to fix a number plate. This means it could be one of just a few vehicles that are regarded as motorcycles that will be allowed to be imported.
It is a shame that LTO does not recognise that the Bajaj RE is a car as stated on BBC Top Gear.
This is another hair-brain idea from the LTO with little to no thinking process. In the last couple of years they have made some hair-brain regulations that didn’t work. Look at nothing can be anywhere in the windshield area to block the view. Look how that turned out.