Riders are thankful that authorities eased restrictions on pillion-riding. In return, they intend to help get fellow riders to follow rules.
The Interagency Task Force (IATF) and the National Task Force (NTF) have eased their initial hard-line stance against pillion or tandem riding on motorcycles while the country is still struggling to stop the spread of CoViD-19.
They are now allowing, under General Community Quarantine (GCQ) protocols, people from the same household to ride in tandem on motorcycles without the barriers or shields.
They are also allowing Authorized Persons Outside Residence (APORs) to ride tandem but with the approved shield or barrier. Even if just one of the riders is an APOR.
Apparently, they have realized what riders’ groups have been saying all along that it was illogical to require barriers to prevent CoViD infection between partners or people living together in one home.
The Joint Task Force CoViD Shield, the group tasked to, among other things, ensure compliance with riding-in-tandem guidelines under GCQ, said in a press release that some riders are willing to help authorities in this task.
The same press release quoted Riders of the Philippines as saying that its members will take part in ‘Operation Habal Watch’ to avoid the abuse of the easing of pillion-riding restrictions and to protect the riding public.
It took authorities some time to backtrack on requiring couples and live-in partners to have barriers between them when riding in tandem on motorcycles. Better late than never.