The problem with road accidents

This concerns the never-ending reports on road accidents wherein one of the reasons cited is “failure” of the brake system. Using common sense, this is nonsense!

I have been driving since I was 15 years old until now that I am 60. I have driven almost 100 kinds of vehicles from light to heavy (10-wheeler trucks), new and semidilapidated to dilapidated vehicles.

I experienced failure of the brake system but never had serious accidents because of presence of mind.

Experience is the best teacher and here are some suggestions for drivers when driving a new/old, light/heavy vehicle, especially on long trips:

1) Before starting, check your water, motor oil, brake fluid, crude oil or gas. Check how your brakes are. Some trucks or buses are equipped with “power air brakes/parking brakes.”

2) In negotiating a downhill/steep road, always shift
to low gear before reaching the downhill road (defensive driving). In the eventuality you sense that your brake system is not working, switch off your engine while applying power air brake/parking brake or handbrake. There is no prize for a downhill fast driver.

I remember the fatal accident involving a Byron bus on
Marcos Highway in Barangay Badiwan, Benguet, in which more than 20 passengers died.

According to some survivors, the conductor was allegedly putting brake fluid in the container located in front of the driver because the brake system was not working.

When God calls us, it is a calling which we cannot refuse whether we are asleep or awake; but fatal and gruesome deaths can be avoided if drivers use common sense and have presence of mind.

I suggest to the Department of Public Works and Highways that instead of “peppering” national roads with “useless” arrow traffic signs, please put big signboards before every downhill/steep road reminding drivers to: “Check your brakes! Shift to low gear!”

Those arrow traffic signs are useless because alert drivers focus their eyes on the road, not on the side. In downhill/steep roads, a drainage canal should be constructed and maintained. A vehicle with failed brakes can park using the canal instead of ramming it into a mountain slope or an incoming vehicle to avoid a fatal accident.

I was apprehended before on the North Luzon Expressway. I did not entertain the fixers at the Land Transportation Office on East Avenue so I took the written exam (we were around 30) and found out that many apprehended drivers cannot understand road signs. One even had a fake driver’s license. Fixers were charging P1,500 for those who did not show up.

After undergoing the legal process, I paid only P175.

To our law enforcers, apprehend violators without fear or favor!

JUNIPER DOMINGUEZ, [email protected]