Wanted: New rules to discipline drivers

A week ago, a wayward truck struck a ten-year old girl and nine others, then it hit a motorcycle and a minicab along the Don Andres Soriano Road in Toledo City, not far from a major bus accident that happened just a week after the famous June 13th JD bus that plunged into a ravine at the Transcentral Highway in Balamban, killing 50 Iranian students. While I do not have any national count on the people killed in road accidents, but from the reported bus accidents alone that we read in the newspapers, hundreds already died and the year isn’t over yet.

But what is the LTO doing about this? Of course, they are doing the usual suspension of the bus lines and inspection and they also charge the driver with homicide through reckless imprudence. But that’s about it. The accidents continue simply because the drivers that get licenses from LTO are not given proper or basic training for driving skills and safety.

If there is anything that no President since the time of Pres. Ferdinand E. Marcos (despite his Martial Law slogan, Sa Ikauunlad ng Bayan, Disiplina ang Kailangan) up to the present dispensation ever dared change is the way our drivers get their licenses. We only have two types of licenses, professional and non-professional. In the old days, one could get a driver’s license through his friendly neighborhood fixer, despite warning signs posted visibly within LTO premises. Even a blind applicant got his driver’s license. Let me say that they have a better success rate in the LTO Regional Office on this, but I can’t say this about the other LTO regional offices all over the country.

I hope that the new LTO Chief Virginia Torres gets to read this column, but more important than reading this is what she would do to come up with more disciplined and responsible drivers for our roads. What I like most in the US first of all is that, they are a Federal State and as such, each State has its own laws on traffic. For instance in Texas, it’s not illegal to ride a motorcycle sans a helmet, but this is illegal in California or in New York.

I’m mentioning California because an avid reader of my columns, Mr. Socrates Punay who comes from San Diego, California once commented on our articles about traffic discipline and what the LTO is doing about it. He gave me an idea of what the Department of Motor Vehicles do in the State of California. Hence I asked Mr. Punay to send me the literature on this so I could write about them with the hope that LTO would look and listen. Hey, we don’t have to reinvent the wheel when it comes to traffic management as there are lots of good practices that we can borrow like California’s laws.

So what I got from Mr. Punay just this week was the 135-page California Commercial Driver Handbook for 2009 that was a thick magazine sized. Then he also sent me the California Driver’s Handbook for 2010. He also sent me a brochure on “How to get your California Motorcycle License” and another one entitled “Basic Rider Course by the California Motorcyclist Safety Program (CMSP). This means if you want to ride a motorcycle in California, you must undergo a vigorous training, something that all Habal-Habal drivers never took and should undergo.

The biggest surprise I got was a handbook in Tagalog! It’s entitled “Hanbuk ng Tsuper sa California” complete with a “Mensahe ng Gobernador” or a message from California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in Tagalog. You may call it Filipino, but from where I come from it is Tagalog! But what was of great interest to me was their Commercial Driver Handbook, which had cover photos of a trailer truck for container vans, tanker trucks, tourist buses and yes even training for driving firetrucks.

Let’s ask ourselves; do we have such training programs for these commercial vehicles here? I doubt it. Yet this is so simple to implement because we do not have to reinvent the wheel. I’m sure that California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger would be more than glad to teach the LTO how to do things better than what we are doing today? After all, we can even copy their materials which are already in Tagalog!

As I cannot put all of what is written in the handbook here, let me tell you that it has 12 sections. The Sec.1 is the introduction, which deals with State laws, requirements and how to get the license. Section 2 is Driving Safety, including Mountain driving, Skid control, Accident procedures, basic vehicle control, night driving, fog and winter. Sec. 3 is on Transporting Cargo, which deals on securing your cargo, weight and balance. Sec. 4 is on Transporting Passengers, Section 6, 7 & 8 is about Combination Vehicles, which deals with trailers, or Tanks. Section 9 is handling hazardous materials/wastes. Section 10 is on Pre-trip Tests. Section 11 is about Skills Tests and Sec.12 is Driving Tests. I dare say that the LTO ought to adopt this handbook and I assure you we will have lesser accidents on our roads.

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