Driving High

CEBU, Philippines - Road accidents are becoming rampant these days. There are more vehicles running on old roads designed to accommodate just a few. There are more abusive drivers, too.

The way it presently is, there's little that can be done about the size of the old city roads. It is understandably difficult to widen most of the roads, because of structures that line on both sides. This is not talking about the makeshift squatter dwellings in the interior streets, but buildings and residences standing on legally titled lots along the main streets. 

It is costly to demolish or uproot structures by the street sides, whether these belong to squatters or to legal owners. Government needs to properly relocate squatters. Legal owners need to be paid for the portions of their lots to be expropriated.

The cost does not only fall on the government. The big inconvenience of the affected private individuals in having to move to another place or to downsize an existing structure is also part of the cost, although not in money terms. It is not surprising to see people vigorously resisting efforts at widening their very roads.

Widening a street is usually a heated tug-of-war that takes some time to resolve. At the same time, the number of vehicles in circulation is increasing continually, at a pace much faster than roads can be widened to have room for all of them. If this situation continues, the day is coming when it will be much quicker to get to city destinations on foot because of gridlock in the streets.

No one wants this to happen, of course. That is why a road widening project eventually finds its way. The affected communities eventually come to realize that the common good is much more important than individual comforts and interests.

And yet narrow roads, while remaining to be a problem, is only but a part of the total road risk picture. There's also the problem of poorly maintained vehicles conking out in the middle of the street, hindering the flow of traffic. Why these wheeled bundles of scrap metal are still allowed to roam the city streets is a mystery.

But the biggest danger on the road is the human factor. If a crossing pedestrian escapes harm from being run over or if car drivers avoid bumping into one another on a busy street, unsuspecting passengers may find themselves on taxis or jeepneys with someone high on drugs at the reins.

In a place where majority of the population takes public transportation, strangers travel together.  The possibility of theft or holdups aboard jeepneys, for example, is ever present. And yet the risk does not end with hold-uppers; the other, much closer threat may be the driver himself!

It is a known fact that many taxi and jeepney drivers use prohibited drugs. Some taxi drivers say it helps them stay awake during the long nights. Many jeepney drivers make the job their source of income to sustain their drug habit.

The use of prohibited drugs by drivers was the reason behind the compulsory requirement of drug tests on applicants for driver's license. The intention of the law that backs the requirement is admirable; the enforcement couldn't have been more timely. It's scary to think that the public may be putting their lives in the hands of someone who may be in his "superman" moments.

Especially during rush hours, the passenger is not really in a position to scrutinize taxi or jeepney drivers. One is lucky enough to get a ride. If unlucky, the ride may be his last.

Republic Act 9165, the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act, is the poor passenger's only solace, so long as the law is properly enforced. Prohibited drugs are mind-altering substances. A driver under their influence loses his touch with reality.

Hallucination is one of the common experiences of a drug user. There becomes a very slight difference - at times, none at all - in the drug user's perception of the real world and his fantasies. At any time he may snap completely into his "other world."

It is not only the passengers who are at risk. The other drivers on the same road are at risk, too. It is scary enough for the high driver to be playing with his own life, more so if he tugs other lives along in his deadly trip.