Stop the slaughter on our roads and highways

Bodies of passengers are covered in newspapers as they are laid down on the road after a passenger bus plunged from an elevated highway known as Skyway Monday, Dec. 16, 2013, in suburban Paranaque southeast of Manila, Philippines. Officials said at least 21 people died, mostly passengers, and more than 20 others were injured in the accident. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

Does this sound familiar? “Around 80 percent of fatal accidents … involve motorcycles and motorized scooters and often involve alcohol-impaired drivers. Many motorcyclists, especially in rural areas, do not wear helmets. The combination of trucks, buses, cars and motorcycles all traveling at different speeds on the country’s highways also appears to contribute to the high death toll. The failure to wear seat belts in cars, reckless driving at high speeds and ignoring traffic rules are other key factors…”

Actually, these sentences came from a news article datelined Bangkok and written by Thomas Fuller for the International New York Times (INYT) last Saturday. But they might as well apply to the Philippine land transportation scene except that over here, many motorcyclists in urban as well as rural areas do not wear helmets. In fact, policemen in uniforms are often seen riding motorcycles in Metro Manila without helmets.

A study released early February by the Transportation Research Institute at the University of Michigan concluded that Thailand has the world’s second highest road fatality rate after Namibia, according to the INYT article. There were 8,746 traffic-related deaths in Thailand in 2012, down from a peak of 16,000 deaths in 1995. The study listed the following as the Top 10 in road fatalities after Namibia and Thailand: Iran, Sudan, Swaziland, Venezuela, Congo, Malawi, Dominican Republic and Iraq.

8,000 LIVES LOST. But before our Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) and its NPAs (nonperforming agencies), the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) and the Land Transportation Office (LTO), congratulate themselves that the Philippines is not on that death list, they should be aware that we are not far behind Thailand in terms of road kills.

As Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) president Jean Todt noted in his keynote speech at the Drive Tourism Conference in Subic last January organized by the Automobile Association Philippines (AAP) with the

Department of Tourism as sponsor, as many as 8,000 lives were lost on the roads of the Philippines last year.  And the DOTC and its NPAs should remember that not a day passes without a road crash maiming and/or killing people being reported somewhere in this notoriously dangerous country.

To be fair, the LTFRB seems to have awakened recently when it suspended the seven franchises of Don Mariano Transit, which has figured in a series of fatal road mishaps in Metro Manila.  But aside from canceling the franchises of bus operators in reaction to their vehicles’ involvement in deadly road crashes, the DOTC and its agencies should take preventive measures to reduce the number of accidents waiting to happen.

The LTFRB is reportedly studying a proposal to require the installation of speed limiters on public utility buses (PUBs) but at the House transportation committee hearing last week, LTFRB spokesperson Mary Ann Salada warned of a fare increase. Salada pointed out that since the LTFRB will soon stop registering or renewing the registration of PUBs older than 15 years, the installation of speed limiters and CCTVs (to deter robberies and other crimes on board) would pile up the operating costs for bus companies and result in petitions to hike fare rates.

THE PRICE OF SAFETY. There we go again, voicing the concerns of industry instead of speaking up for the safety of the tax-paying commuters who pay the salaries of government officials. If the price of a safe, secure public transportation is a slight fare increase, would the majority of consumers object?

But it is not only safety gadgets on PUBs that can help prevent traffic accidents. At a recent lunch meeting convened by AAP president Gus Lagman with news columnists who have expressed outrage over the epidemic of road crashes, some courses of action like the following were recommended to make public transportation, especially PUBs, safe and stop the slaughter on our roads and highways:

1) Require all those applying for a professional driver’s license or the renewal thereof to take a more stringent, honest, written and practical test administered by the LTO.  Those who flunk the tests will be required to undergo the safe driving program conducted jointly by the LTFRB, AAP and University of the Philippines National Center for Transportation Studies at UP Diliman for public utility vehicle drivers. The  LTFRB should increase its financial support for the program so that classes can be held weekly instead of bi-monthly;

2) Increase the franchise fees to cover the expense of more regular, honest and stricter inspection and auditing by the LTFRB of the roadworthiness of PUBs.  Regular, honest and more stringent inspection will force PUB operators to keep their buses in good, safe condition, especially the tires and brakes;

3) Pass a law replacing the “boundary system” with the daily or weekly wage system of compensation;

4) Increase the value of Compulsory Third Party Liability (CTPL) insurance and require Damage to Property insurance coverage for PUBs, with premiums decreasing when the vehicle/drivers end the year with no accidents and moving violations;

5) Require bus operators to install electronic speed limiters and dashboard cameras on their PUBs with the cancellation of franchise and/or nonrenewal of registration as the penalty for failing to do so;

6) Post speed limit signs on all roads, highways as well as city streets.  Remove road signs without any traffic-redeeming value, e.g. “This way to Love Motel.”

7) Ban parking and sidewalk vendors from all national roads, highways and one-way streets;

8) Strictly enforce the wearing of helmets and the use of the motorcycle lane by motorcycle riders.

You may have noticed that the above will challenge the NPAs of the DOTC, if not the DOTC itself and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, to perform their responsibility of making public transportation safe for all road users.  Those who attended that brainstorming session with the AAP (Philippine Star columnist Cito Beltran, Inquirer columnist Peter Wallace, Solar TV’s James Deakin and BusinessWorld managing editor Arnold Belleza) would like to assure these government offices and PUB operators that apathy and indifference on their part will not wear us down.  We shall keep up the pressure until you rise to the challenge of stopping the slaughter on our roads and highways. And we invite our readers to join us in this crusade.