Restrictions on motorcycle use on freeways

The concept of a freeway (a public way intended primarily for high speed travel over long distances) has resulted in a set of highways with engineering features such as long sight distances, wide marked lanes and the absence of cross traffic. These features provide faster and safer travel for all users.

Most freeways in most countries and areas in the world allow motorcycles with sufficient speed or power such that they are not so slow as to impede other traffic or cause hazards due to speed differentials. However, freeways in a few countries and areas have additional restrictions upon motorcycles such as access restrictions, carriage of passengers and different speed limits, frequently due to perceived safety concerns.

Access and passenger restrictions

Freeways in certain countries and areas in and around East Asia impose access restrictions on motorcycles that are not widely applied elsewhere, ranging from prohibiting motorcycles with passengers to prohibiting motorcycles altogether. Certain opponents of these motorcycle restrictions argue that slower surface roads with intersections are probably more dangerous for motorcycles and their passengers.

Mainland China

In Mainland China two-wheel motorcycles driven on the freeways may not carry passengers. A vehicle must be capable of maintaining 70 km/h to be driven on the freeways. [Article 67 of the Road Traffic Safety Law of the People's Republic of China]

Macao has no freeways. See also #Hong Kong and #Taiwan for separate information.

Hong Kong

In Hong Kong a motorcycle with a cylinder capacity of less than 125 cc must not be driven on an expressway. [ [http://www.td.gov.hk/road_safety/road_users_code/index/chapter_7_for_motor_cycles/riding_along_/index.htm Hong Kong Road Users' Code: Chapter 7 For Motor Cycles] ] Unlike Mainland China, Hong Kong does not prohibit motorcycles from carrying passengers on expressways.

Japan

In Japan a motorcycle must have an engine displacement of more than 125 cc to be driven on the freeways. Two-wheel motorcycles were not allowed to carry passengers on the freeways but a legal amendment on 1 April 2005 has partially lifted the ban. A person aged at least 20 with a motorcycle driver license for at least 3 years may now carry a passenger on a two-wheel motorcycle on a freeway, but some segments of the Shuto Expressway still prohibits passengers on two-wheel motorcycles. A motorcycle with a sidecar may carry a passenger on the freeways.

Philippines

19 February 1968The inclusion of motorcycles in the list of vehicles not allowed inside Limited Access Facilities seems to have started following an accident on the SLEX involving a police officer. In October 1966, police officers on board motorcycles were ordered to escort visiting U.S. President Lyndon Johnson to the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Los Banos, Laguna. The Government, wanting to give President Johnson a nationalistic welcome, ordered these same police officers to replace their safety helmets with traditional Filipino hats. Unfortunately, tragedy struck along the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) when one of the motorcycle officers was killed in an accident on the way to IRRI. In a knee-jerk reaction to this unfortunate but preventable incident the Department of Public Works and Communications ordered an immediate ban of motorcycles from the Limited Access Facilities.

10 January 2001Seeking to improve road safety for all motorists, several motorcycle clubs, directly representing over five thousand active members, filed a civil action in the courts of Makati City challenging the TRB’s rule banning all motorcycles from operating within the country’s tollways. The petitioners alleged that the ban is illegal under existing law and, moreover, that it threatens public safety by forcing all motorcyclists onto alternative roadways that are clearly not as safe as the tollways, which, by design, are free of the many hazards or obstructions that most often contribute to vehicular accidents (for example, high-frequency of traffic intersections and road islands, opposing traffic, poorly designated PUV passenger loading and unloading zones, and pedestrians).

A central argument in the case is the fact that Republic Act No. 2000, also known as the Limited Access Highway Act, only authorizes the exclusion of trucks, buses and other commercial vehicles from the tollways. However, the petitioners observe that the TRB has outlawed only motorcycles on the tollways even though no such authority to do so exists under the law.

16 July 2001Motorcycle riders are now allowed on the tollways. In a Writ of Preliminary Injunction, the Makati Regional Trial Court, Branch 147 ruled that motorcyclists have the legal right as licensed motorists to use the tollways. In the 5-page decision, Judge Teofilo L. Guadiz, Jr. said that respondents DPWH and TRB have no power or authority to ban motorcycles on expressways and “therefore, the ban in the expressways on motorcycles is void and illegal”. The judge also cited the predicament of the motorcyclist-petitioners who are forced to use the more dangerous side roads in their travels as a result of the motorcycle ban.

18 July 2001Two days after the court writ was issued, reacting to the defeat in court, the DPWH hastily issues Department Order #123, Series of 2001 (DO 123). The order is signed by then DPWH Secretary Simeon A. Datumanong under advice of PNCC Chairman Luis Sison whose reason for the new illegal ban was "People who ride bikes of less than 400 cc are poor and uneducated" and who would later resign from his post under controversial circumstances. DO 123 introduces a ban on motorcycles with engine displacements of less than 400 cc. No public consultation on the provisions of DO 123 is held even though this order clearly impacts on a sizeable segment of the population. With DO 123, the DPWH accepts that less than 1% of the Philippine motorcycling population (those rich enough to afford large, imported motorcycles) can have access to the tollways. No motorcycle above 250 cc is manufactured in the Philippines. Motorcyclists contend that DO 123 violates the Writ of Preliminary Injunction issued by the courts just two days earlier and prepare to challenge the order.

August 2001 to 2003The civil case filed in January 2001 by concerned motorcyclists is now up for final decision. The PNCC, operating as an agent of the TRB, continues to disregard the Writ of Preliminary Injunction while enforcing DO 123. Sub-400 cc motorcyclists are regularly apprehended by PNCC traffic enforcers for entering the tollways only to have the alleged violation (disregarding traffic signals and/or obstruction) dismissed by the LTO who recognizes the supremacy of the Writ over DO 123.

Some motorcyclists, angered by the arrogance of the PNCC, file cases of contempt against PNCC traffic enforcers and officials. The courts jail several traffic enforcers as a result. Several contempt charges remain pending against high-level PNCC and DPWH officials.

June 16 2003In an Order dated June 16, 2003, Judge Cristina Cornejo of the Makati City Regional Trial Court, Branch 147 has denied the Motion for Partial Reconsideration filed by the petitioners with respect to the Decision rendered on March 10, 2003 declaring DPWH DO 123 (that is the sub-400 cc ban) illegal and upholding the total ban on motorcycles within the tollways. This surprise decision is a completely opposite view to that of the previous judge who declared the ban illegal and void.

June 2006The Supreme Court voids Department of Public Works and Highways Department Order Nos. 74 (1993), 215 (1998), and 123 (2001) and the Toll Regulatory Board’s Revised Rules and Regulations on Limited Access Facilities (1997).With this sweeping decision, the North Luzon Expressway, South Luzon Expressway, and Manila-Cavite Coastal Toll Road and other highways are no longer declassified as Limited Access Highways, paving the way for all motorcyclists to legally ply these roads as they are encouraged do in more developed countries to reduce congestion and pollution.

The Supreme court said that the DPWH never had the authority to declare any road a limited access highway therefore there are none and as the only legal ban applies only to limited access highways there is no ban on motorcycles using any road in the Philippines.

The Department of Public Works and Highways Department Order No. 123 banned motorcycles under 400 cc while allowing high-power large displacement motorcycles to use the Limited Access Highways. Department Order No. 123 was twice previously declared illegal by the Makati Regional Trial Court prior to the Supreme Court decision.

On September 21, 2005, after a presentation given by Frank Woolf, President GMA ordered DOTC Secretary Leandro Mendoza to immediately look into the problem of motorcycles being banned from tollways and to bring the Philippines into line with international standards. The Supreme Court ruling is a big step in this direction although more than a year after the president's instructions and being given detailed research results, statistics and draft rules and regulations, nothing has been done by the DOTC

March 2007The tollways continue to defy the courts by apprehending riders and issuing penalty tickets for using the tollways. The LTO is the only authority on traffic offence penalties. They are rejecting the tickets issued by the tollways while the riders are organizing further protest rides.

The authority tasked with setting and regulating tolls on the tollways, the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB), have now declared their own illegal ban on bikes less than 400 cc saying "It is for the rider's safety". They have in the past been given international and local reports and statistics that prove the alternative routes they force the riders to use may be as much as 200 times more dangerous than the tollways. Simple statistics show that over 90% of the most common causes of accidents involving motorcycles do not exist on the tollways or freeways.

The Land Transport Department (LTO) have already made it clear that the tollways, the TRB, the DPWH, have no authority to invent traffic groups and traffic offences but, like the supreme court, they are being ignored by tollways authorities whose guidelines seem to be bigotry and ignorance.

A complete history with details of rallies, protests, court decisions and copies of court writs etc is available at http://www.motorcycleasia.net/freeways/freewaysall.php

Update on the situation:

The PNCC has been illegally collecting toll fees since April 2007

On June 23rd 2008 the Pasig City, Philippines Regional Trial Court ruled that the PNCC has been illegally collecting toll fees since April 2007 and ruled that the PNCC is "immediately prohibited from collecting toll fees along SLEX facilities as it no longer has the power to do so."

"Finally as mandated under Section 9 of PD No. 1113, respondent PNCC is hereby COMMANDED to turn over without further delay the physical assets and facilities of the SLEX including improvements thereon, together with the equipment and appurtenances directly related to their operations without any cost, to the Government through the Toll Regulatory Board in coordination with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). "

The PNCC are (again) ignoring the law, defying the court and continuing to operate illegally. Certain groups and individuals are considering filing criminal charges against the PNCC for extortion and other charges.

The situation arises because when the franchise of the PNCC expired in April 2007 the TRB disregarded the law and went beyond its jurisdiction issuing a TOC to the PNCC to continue operations.

Taiwan

In Taiwan administered by the Republic of China, the governmental agencies in charge of the traffic control of the freeways (高速公路) and expressways (快速公路) are the Ministry of Transportations and Communications (交通部) and the Ministry of the Interior (内政部) pursuant to Article 33 of the Act Governing the Punishment of Violation of Road traffic Regulations ().

Motorcycles, unless used for certain police purposes or emergency tunnel duties, are prohibited from the freeways due to some perceived safety concerns [zh icon [http://www.freeway.gov.tw/14_content.asp?SID=25&Item=7&ord=7 Taiwan Area National Freeway Bureau] ] (with counter arguments by opponents in parentheses below):

#Taiwanese freeways have no room for motorcycle lanes. Sharing any lanes with cars and large vehicles would be very dangerous. (Vehicles traveling at the same speed would "not" collide.)
#Motorcycles are much less protected than cars, so any accident would be much worse, especially when frequent interchanges with complex traffic flows would increase the dangers to motorcycles. (As most traffic accidents and crashes occur in intersections, surface roads tend to be even more dangerous for motorcycles despite common slower speeds.)
#Taiwanese motorcyclists may not be patient, so should they squeeze between other vehicles, dangers would arise and traffic flow would be disturbed. (Proper safety education for all should reduce the problems.)
#The freeway traffic volume is over capacity and needs better management to relieve traffic. Allowing motorcycles would worsen traffic. (Solo car drivers switching to motorcycles should reduce traffic congestion.)

Article 19 of the Freeway and Expressway Traffic Control Regulation (zh:高速公路及快速公路交通管制規則) effective on July 1, 2006 makes it officially possible to allow a motorcycle with a cylinder capacity of more than 250 cm³ or with an electric power of more than 40 horsepower on certain expressways.

When the Legislative Yuan amended, on January 12, 2007, Article 92 of the Act Governing the Punishment of Violation of Road traffic Regulations [zh icon [http://lis.ly.gov.tw/lghtml/lawstat/version2/02017/0201796011200.htm Act Governing the Punishment of Violation of Road traffic Regulations] , Legislative Yuan, amended on January 12, 2007] and the Executive Yuan ordered, on September 13, 2007, to validate that amendment on Thursday, November 1, 2007, [zh icon [http://law.moj.gov.tw/Scripts/Query4.asp?B2=%AAu%A1%40%A1%40%AD%B2&FNAME=K0040012 Amendment history of the Act Governing the Punishment of Violation of Road traffic Regulations] , Ministry of Justice (Republic of China)] a motorcycle with a cylinder capacity of at least 550 cm³ may be driven on most expressways but not freeways yet, [en icon [http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2007/11/01/2003385728 Taipei Times: Large-engined bikes take to the nation's expressways] , November 1, 2007] based on While motorcycles are still banned from freeways, the Legislative Yuan has asked the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in 2007 to study the feasibility to allow powerful motorcycles on freeways in two years. [zh icon [http://www.ly.gov.tw/ly/01_introduce/0103_leg/leg_main/leg_news/leg_news_02.jsp?stage=6&lgno=00005&tablename=cw_LY1000_NEWS&tableid=28181&ItemNO=01030700 Press release] , Legislative Yuan, October 31, 2007] [zh icon [http://real.iot.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=168438&ctNode=1422 Important traffic news] , Institute of Transportation, January 13, 2007] See Highway System in Taiwan#Expressways for more information.

peed restrictions

Due to perceived safety concerns, freeways in certain countries and areas impose lower speed limits upon motorcycles than cars:
*Bulgaria: 100 km/h (unlike 130 km/h for cars)
*Mainland China: 80 km/h (unlike 120 km/h for cars)
*Japan: Previously, motorcycles were limited to 80 km/h unlike 100 km/h for cars, but since 2000, the speed limit upon motorcycles have been raised to 100 km/h.

References

ee also

*Non-motorized access on freeways