LTO asks public to help report abusive drivers

CEBU, Philippines - The officials of the Cebu-based Land Transportation Office have encouraged the public to actively participate in the campaign against reckless and abusive drivers by reporting them to the LTO regional office.

The LTO-7 officials headed by regional director Raul Aguilos, through the LTO’s enforcement arm Task Force Alpha have posted stickers inside the public utility vehicles to guide the public on how to spot and report abusive drivers to the LTO.

The stickers have contact numbers where the public can forward their complaints.

There were suggestions that stiffer penalties be slapped on reckless drivers following recent road accidents involving erring bus drivers, such as the one that occurred in Naga that claimed 14 lives two weeks ago.

Under current rules, reckless drivers are fined P1,000 for the first offense, P1,500 for the second, and P2,000 for the third.

A driver’s license only gets revoked if the same offense of reckless driving is committed four times.

LTO agents have observed that even though the penalty for reckless driving has been increased, there are still many abusive and reckless drivers who invite accidents by disregarding traffic signs.

Transportation officials said that incidences of traffic offenses do not reach their office all the time because they just rely solely on reports that they get from the police.

A former LTO official said that he is not surprised if many drivers disregard traffic laws because they were not subjected to training and seminars when they were granted licenses to drive a motor vehicle.

Only two months ago, the LTO implemented the increase of penalties to apprehended erring drivers, but despite this there are still many drivers who violate traffic laws. – Rene U. Borromeo/BRP   (THE FREEMAN)