Quezon City traffic officials move to keep Commonwealth safe

MANILA, Philippines - Following the tragic death of a Makati judge and his wife on Commonwealth Avenue on Monday, Quezon City traffic officials are now moving to keep the “killer highway” safer to both motorists and pedestrians.

Quezon City traffic chief Superintendent Arnold Santiago said he is alarmed at the growing notoriety of Commonwealth Avenue, fast gaining the moniker “killer highway” and is now working overtime to curb the spiraling number of accidents in the 12.4-kilometer long beltway around the city.

In his brief conversation with The STAR yesterday, Santiago said he is currently in the process of preparing a position paper to be submitted to public works and metro traffic officials summarizing his observations and recommendations for study and implementation. He described the present situation along the avenue as absolutely alarming and dangerous to both life and limb.

Among the critical points he noticed were that the highway is inadequately lighted and that there is an acute lack of reflectorized signages to guide both motorists and pedestrians, particularly those crossing the highway.

Santiago said there are no speed limit signages along the highway to warn the public. He said it is not widely known that a specific speed limit of 60 to 80 kilometers per hour should be observed along Commonwealth Avenue, according to the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority.

He said there are just too many U-turn slots and slam the frequent, unannounced changing of closing, opening and designation of the same. He said that timely advisories for changes are sorely lacking despite opportunity provided by media. There are also too many concrete barriers and unnecessary fences. He also cited the lack of law enforcement officers from the MMDA, the city hall and the LTO on the street.

In related development, Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr. urged the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board yesterday to immediately revoke the franchises of bus companies whose units get involved in fatal road accidents.

He made the appeal a few days after a Corimba Express Inc. passenger bus rammed the vehicle of a retired Makati City judge and his wife along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City, causing the couple’s death.

The avenue has come to be known as a “killer highway” due to the numerous accidents happening there, mostly involving speeding passenger buses.

“Culpable bus liners should be put out of business right away. The LTFRB should cancel, and not just temporarily suspend their franchises,” Barzaga said. He said the LTFRB’s usual move to simply suspend the franchise only to lift the suspension after 60 days is “patently inadequate and ineffective.”

“Suspension is not enough. Outright franchise revocation is the appropriate penalty, if we are to effectively reduce the number of accidents involving passenger buses,” he said.

He said bus liners would be forced to adopt aggressive strategies to prevent accidents once they clearly realize that they risk being forced out of business immediately.

“This is the only way we can purge our streets of so-called rolling coffins. We have to eliminate operators who continue to deploy unreliable buses and retain reckless drivers,” he said.

He pointed out that the abolition of the franchises of derelict liners would also help reduce the number of passenger buses on the road.

“We have too many buses on our roads anyway. This explains why bus drivers, who earn commissions on the day’s fare revenue, carelessly slug it out for passengers,” he said.

Barzaga said he was wondering why the new LTFRB leadership seems to be hesitant in weeding out unreliable operators and their rolling coffins.

Unless they act decisively soon, people would begin to suspect that unscrupulous bus operators are again using money and influence to escape punishment for violations and accidents, Barzaga said.