Why not a commercial driver’s license?

DENR operatives use their smoke meter during a multisectoral, anti-smoke belching drive with members of the Anti-Smoke Belching Unit of the DOTC and the LTO. photo by Marianne Bermudez

It is the fourth week of May, the middle of the current year, but still the frequency of road crashes involving buses and trucks continues unabated.  Although the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) is quicker now in suspending the licenses of criminally liable bus operators, a proposal to install speed limiters in buses has gone nowhere and we are back on square one as far as road safety goes.

Last week, the Land Transportation Office (LTO) published in newspapers a Request for Information inviting suggestions from the public on how to improve the process of issuing driver’s licenses with the end in view of weeding out applicants who are not qualified to drive a motor vehicle safely. The major objective, of course, is to make our roads safer for motorists, commuters, pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcycle riders and pedicabs—in other words, safer for all road users. The LTO held a public conference on the subject last May 15 which was attended by transportation industry stakeholders and nongovernment, nonprofit road safety advocates such as the Automobile Association Philippines (AAP.)

Taking a leaf from the land transportation law of the State of California, United States, AAP advocacies committee chair Johnny Angeles proposed that a fourth kind of driver’s license, the commercial driver’s license (CDL), be added to the three (student driver’s license, nonprofessional and professional driver’s license) being issued.  Angeles said that the California Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Program developed licensing and testing requirements for drivers of commercial vehicles that equals or exceeds federal standards since it takes special skills and professional aptitude to safely operate large trucks and buses.

In California, a CDL can be obtained by a professional driver by taking and passing a driving test.  The CDL is proof  of the driver’s professional skills and aptitude to operate a commercial motor vehicle which is defined as a motor vehicle or combination of vehicles that: 1) has a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 26,001 pounds or more; 2) is a combination vehicle with a GVWR of 26,002 or more pounds if the trailer(s) has a GVWR of 10,0001 or more pounds; 3) tows any vehicle with a GVWR of 10,001 pounds or more; 4) tows more than one vehicle or a trailer bus; 5) has three or more axles, except three-axle vehicles weighing 8,000 pounds or less gross; 6) is any vehicle (bus, farm labor vehicle, general public paratransit vehicle, etc.) designed, used or maintained to carry more than 10 passengers including the driver for hire or profit, or is used by any nonprofit organization or group; 7) is any size vehicle which requires hazardous material placards or is carrying material listed as a select agent or toxin in 42 CFR; 8) transports hazardous wastes.

The LTO should consider adapting the California Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Program, given the many fatal, tragic road crashes involving buses and cargo trucks driven by those who do not have the special skills and professional aptitude to operate large commercial vehicles.  With the professional driver’s license issued by the LTO, you can drive a jeepney, taxicab, bus or truck.  In fact, some drivers operating buses or big cargo trucks used to be jeepney or taxi drivers and did not undergo any special training for driving large commercial vehicles safely.

In addition to the CDL, Angeles recommends that the LTO require professional drivers to undergo Red Cross training on first aid, rescue and response procedures in emergency situations.  Retaining the drug test is another requirement that Angeles favors for driver’s license applicants, including those applying to renew their license. Since the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Anti-Drunk and Drugged Driving Act of 2013 were finally released by the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) last Friday, the strict enforcement thereof starting next month should help to reduce the number of  road crashes, Angeles said.

“SMOKE-BELCHING COMMANDOS.” That is what an AAP member calls the men in green uniform, one of whom flagged down the driver of her old diesel Mercedes-Benz 100 van at Edsa corner Roxas Boulevard when he was on his way to the Mall of Asia to fetch her the other week. Since the man in green was standing in the middle of the intersection, her driver was forced to stop lest he run over him.  The man in green said they were checking smoke belchers.  But her van was registered last March “and we all know that the LTO will not register a vehicle without the emission test,” the AAP member wrote in her e-mail.

However, when the driver could not produce the van’s emission test receipt—although he showed the van’s registration and official receipt—the man in green demanded that the driver turn over his license or pay P500.  Meanwhile, the other men in green tried to remove the license plate of the van but found it difficult to do so.  They then settled for the driver’s license, telling him to either pay P500 or go to the Pasay city hall to redeem his license for P2,000. The driver surrendered his license since he did not have P500.

On their way back from MOA to redeem the license, the AAP member and her driver had to make a U-turn. Another man in green flagged down the van again.  The man followed them to the side of the road but the driver informed him that his license had been confiscated already and he was about to redeem it.  The man in green appeared surprised and said, “Ha? Kelan ka namin hinuli? Sino’ng nanghuli sa iyo? (What? When did we arrest you? Who arrested you?)”

“It should be noted that the group was not flagging down buses, tourist buses and public utility vehicles which all run on diesel,” the AAP member wrote.  “They were targeting vans and SUVs only.  Talk about equality! … What is the emission test for if they will haphazardly stop all the diesel vans and SUVs?  They will step on the gas pedal all the way and naturally all the dirt will come out.  That’s the time they measure the carbon monoxide.  Three times they did it. … Imagine if a motorist has to pass by that area so many times a day and he would be apprehended as many times also?”

So if you drive a diesel-fed van or SUV, always bring the emission test receipt with you along with the vehicle’s registration and official receipt.  Otherwise, you may be victimized by “smoke-belching commandos” in green uniform.