EDITORIAL - Reckless, sleepy drivers

This peak travel season, the Land Transportation Office has reportedly deployed over 1,700 enforcers nationwide to monitor and document reckless driving. The LTO is doing this in coordination with law enforcement agencies amid a spate of deadly road accidents involving reckless driving as well as motorists who fall asleep at the wheel.

In an incident over the weekend, video footage showed a jeepney hurtling along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City at top speed before inexplicably rolling over, sideswiping a modern jeep and a car as it skidded to a full stop with its roof on the pavement. Two jeepney passengers died while 16 others were injured.

The jeepney driver is in police custody. Probers said he explained that he swerved the jeepney to avoid hitting something. The momentum had to be so strong for the vehicle to overturn.

Apart from intensifying monitoring of reckless driving, agencies involved in regulating mass transportation must also come down harder on operators of mass transport and cargo vehicles who fail to subject their vehicles to regular maintenance.

Too many accidents, especially those involving delivery trucks, have been blamed on faulty brakes, bald tires and mechanical failure. Such accidents can be avoided or minimized if vehicles are regularly given proper tune-up and parts replacement.

Operators of vehicles registered for public conveyance and cargo delivery have a responsibility to provide safe services. This is also for their own good. Scrimping on regular vehicle maintenance can lead to costly accidents, hefty fines and, worse, possible criminal accountability for deaths and disabilities arising from a vehicular mishap.

Motorists themselves must be encouraged to practice defensive driving. With accidents involving motorcycles on the rise, the government must also tighten requirements for qualifying for a license to drive a motorbike. Traffic rules for motorcycle driving need streamlining, to prevent anarchy on the road. This is also for the bikers’ own good, to promote their safety while driving.

For the road trips this Holy Week, authorities are conducting random drug testing on drivers of public utility vehicles. In Bicol and Cebu, 13 PUV drivers have reportedly tested positive for drug use. Such tests must be sustained beyond the Lenten season, along with efforts to stop people from driving while sleepy. Safety in road travel should be promoted all year round.