Road to safety

It’s time everyone got serious about the matter of safe, as opposed to distracted, driving. In the metropolitan jungle where the volume of vehicles has reached horrific proportions and road diggings add to the daily aggravation on the streets, it’s an outrage that many Filipinos think nothing of using cell phones — sending or reading text messages, making calls, even playing games — while driving.

Two things common in daily Filipino life collide in their contradiction — an apparent obsession with cell phones and improvisational road behavior — resulting in deadly dissonance. In 2016, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority reported a whopping 68,499 accidents during the day and 40,823 at night. As many as 446 were killed in these accidents.

Now the government is tasked with enforcing a law to stamp out dangerous behavior among drivers. Republic Act No. 10913, or the Anti-Distracted Driving Law, took effect on May 18: “It is hereby declared the policy of the State to safeguard its citizenry from the ruinous and injurious effects of vehicular accidents. While the State recognizes the vital roles of information and communications technology in nation-building, the State also takes cognizance of the inimical consequences of the unrestrained use of electronic mobile devices on road safety as to cause its regulations.”

In other words: Text or drive, not both at once. It’s hardly an unreasonable demand, and there are emergency exemptions. The law also prohibits the use of any device that infringes on the driver’s line of sight.

The fines and penalties are nothing to sneeze at: P5,000 for the first offense, P10,000 for the second offense, P15,000 and three-month suspension of the driver’s license for the third offense; and P20,000 and revocation of the driver’s license beyond the third offense. It is hoped that the stipulated punishment will ultimately lead to a change not only in driving behavior but also in attitude.

Expectedly, there was an initial harvest of apprehensions. On the first day of the law’s implementation, the MMDA network of street cameras recorded 77 violations between 6 a.m. and 3 p.m. The majority of the violators were caught texting while driving, according to MMDA spokesperson Celine Pialago.

With the Anti-Distracted Driving Law a step in the right direction, it’s an opportune time to direct attention to motorcycles and scooters which have become an integral part of metropolitan life—and which were involved in the biggest number (218) of fatal accidents in 2016. Whole families squeezed together on a single motorcycle, the kids often without helmets, are an absurdly common sight on the roads. Motorcycle drivers should be aware of Republic Act No. 10666, or The Children’s Safety on Motorcycles Act of 2015, which took effect on May 19. It bans minors from sitting in front of the motorcycle driver in any situation. Children may ride behind the driver provided their feet can reach the foot pegs, they can wrap their arms around the driver’s waist, and they are wearing helmets.

As always, these laws require strict enforcement if they are to improve road safety and to protect children, pedestrians, and motorists in our streets. (In other countries like the United States, texting while driving is banned in 46 states. The Associated Press has reported the development of a device that would allow police to immediately determine whether the driver in a road accident was using his or her cell phone in any way prior to the accident.) It is hoped that drivers would take pains to understand the new laws and not view them as mere inconveniences; that the steep fines and penalties would strike the fear, if not of God, then of emptied pockets, in the hearts of the recalcitrant; and that enforcers would consistently show teeth without fear or favor, and not gleefully consider this important campaign as a new opportunity to make hay.

Everyone must persevere in ridding the streets of the menace posed by distracted drivers and motorcyclists unmindful of deadly risks to their children. Everyone must get on the road to safety.