THE Court of Appeals has affirmed the ruling issued by the regional trial court (RTC) in Makati City that motorcycles with sidecars are banned from using limited access facilities or expressways.
In a 13-page decision penned by Associate Justice Rafael Antonio Santos, the CA’s Special Twelfth Division junked the petition filed by Motorbelle Corp. and its officers seeking a declaration that Department of Transportation and Communications’s (now Department of Transportation) Department Order 2007-38 covers motorcycles with or without sidecars. The said DO provides that “only motorcycles with an engine displacement of at least 400 cubic centimeters [cc] shall be allowed to operate within the limited access facilities.”
The petitioners argued that such declaration would prevent confusion among motorists and traffic enforcers. Motorbelle is the exclusive distributor in the Philippines of Ural Motorcycles with sidecars and engine displacement of 750cc.
Its officers claimed that it was important that the court clarified that motorcycles with sidecars are covered by the DOTC order as most of their buyers would often ask whether their units are allowed on expressways.
They added that the confusion over the implementation of the order has
also hurt the sales of Motorbelle.