In the early morning of Oct. 21, a speeding bus rammed the vehicle of Dr. Francisco Sarabia, which resulted to his untimely death. Many lives have been lost because of this kind of accidents brought about by reckless driving that made them a normal occurrence in many roads, particularly in EDSA and the South and North Luzon expressways.
“We have to keep reckless drivers from our thoroughfares,” says Rep. Irwin Tieng, author of House Bill 5498 or anti-reckless driving bill, when asked why he chose to draft this bill. “The bill will work to deter this pernicious practice.”
The anti-reckless driving bill, co-authored by Representatives Rene Velarde and Ma. Carissa Coscolluela, seeks to define reckless driving as a criminal offense and to provide stiffer penalties. It also makes owners/operators of the offending vehicle directly liable to the damage.
Reckless driving has not been defined as a crime, but it is only penalized as a quasi-offense under Article 365 of the Revised Penal Code as reckless imprudence.
In the proposed bill, penalties of reckless driving are one to six months imprisonment and/or P10,000 for simple reckless driving; six months to two years imprisonment and/or P20,000 (incidents that caused slight physical injuries); two years and one day to four years imprisonment plus a fine of P40,000 (less serious physical injuries); four to six years imprisonment and P80,000 (serious physical injuries); six to 12 years imprisonment and P100,000 (death, permanent injury or mutilation of any body part).
Damage to property due to reckless driving merits the fine of equal amount of actual damages, not less than P10,000 and/or six months to two years imprisonment.
“As a lawmaker, I have to make sure that I do everything possible to keep my constituents safe,” says Rep. Irwin. “Public safety is my priority.”