Traffic enforcers are said to be encountering difficulties in implementing the Anti-Distracted Driving Act (Adda). While CCTVs may be high-definition and state-of-the-art, it is still a problem for them in many instances to tell from a distance if motorists are using their cell phones while driving. Suggestions to ban dark tints on car windows altogether are gaining traction and adherents.
Banning dark tints on car windows is no solution to the problem. Sure, it may make things convenient for traffic enforcers, but the hazards to which it would expose motorists on the road far outweigh such concern. For one thing, criminals will be able to see more clearly, even at sundown, if the driver is a woman and alone.
Vulnerability is a serious matter in these parlous times when criminals on motorcycles strike anytime, often with impunity. Unless police protection is guaranteed, motorists have no alternative but to find ways to keep themselves safe and secure. In Metro Manila, sadly, police authorities are almost always never there when they are needed most.
We think the Adda will just have to go the way of the Anti-Drunk and Drugged Driving Act (Addda), the force and effect of which can be felt only when motorists get caught violating other traffic rules or, God forbid, figure in accidents. For as long as motorists are not plainly seen using their cell phones or guzzling liquor while driving without any incident, no probable cause exists for traffic enforcers to flag them down on mere suspicion of violating those laws.
It is only upon getting apprehended for one reason or another that motorists can be actually verified to have used their cell phones or have had one too many while driving. And while alcohol may be easier to sniff then, checking cell phones for calls or answers just made may be trickier business in light of everyone’s primordial right to privacy. Incidentally, how the heck are traffic enforcers to measure from afar if cell phones or other navigational gadgets are within the 4-inch height allowance for placement on the dashboard?
In the final analysis, traffic enforcers should not get so exercised over the enforcement of the Adda and the Addda. Those laws are really meant mainly as a deterrent to all motorists who up until now think traffic violations are no big deal in this country. Given the very stiff (nay, excessive) fines and penalties those laws carry (or “kotong” cops may charge for hassle-free settlement), they would have to really search their souls (and their bank accounts) if using cell phones while driving or drinking before driving is worth getting into that kind of trouble—or dying for!
STEPHEN L. MONSANTO, Monsanto Law Office, Loyola Heights, Quezon City