Despite a law mandating the use of seatbelts, Filipino motorists have not learned to buckle up, which a traffic safety expert of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) blamed on the Filipino nature of being “risk-takers.”

According to the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB), there were 141, 372 cases of violation of Republic Act 8750 or the Seatbelt Use Act in 2008 — 5,875 more than the 135,497 cases in 2007.

When RA 8750, which imposes a fines of P1,000 for failure to install seatbelt and P250 for failure to wear it, was implemented in 2004, there were 14,137 violations recorded.

There were 139,618 recorded violation in 2005, and 154,984 in 2006, according to the NSCB.

For years now, violation of the Seatbelt Use Act topped the agency’s list of most frequently committed traffic violations nationwide.

Daisy Jacobo, chief of the LTO’s Traffic Safety Division, said that she had observed that road safety, as well as concern for the environment, is not a priority of Filipino drivers.

“Sad to say road safety through seatbelt use or even adaptation measures to climate change are not a priority among Filipino drivers who are by nature ‘risk-takers’,” Jacobo said.

“When they are apprehended moreover they try to argue their way out of the violation and if the enforcer is unmoved, they turn resentful,” she said.

“For those in the middle or upper income bracket, comfort,” she said.

But this should not be the case, as seatbelts are not meant to make drivers comfortable but to keep them safe in case of an accident, she said.

“A lot of drivers say wearing seatbelts makes them uncomfortable. But security is not meant to make you comfortable but to make you aware that danger is always there,” she said.

“Seatbelts cannot prevent a vehicular accident but it can undisputably be said that it saves lives,” she added, citing the case of Camarines Sur Representative Luis R. Villafuerte Sr. who recently survived an accident because he was wearing a safety belt.