EDITORIAL - The real culprit

Speeding may have been a crucial factor in last Saturday’s tragic head-on collision between a mini bus and a ten-wheeler truck in Naga that claimed at least 14 lives. But it is by no means the real culprit.

The real culprit is the failure of the concerned government agencies to do what is mandated of them as responsible overseers of the public good when it comes to matters that pertain to public transportation.

For example, drivers of public transportation with a tendency to go speeding beyond the standards for safe driving is not simply a matter of character or psychological balance. More often it is a matter of criminal negligence that began way before an accident ever happened.

Criminal negligence often starts when shortcuts are taken in the process to secure drivers licenses. Because it is so easy for anyone to pay his way to a license, it comes as no surprise that even the mentally unfit can find himself behind the wheels in almost no time.

Just take a look at how drivers drive in the Philippines and you know many, if not most, of them do not have the basic idea of what road courtesy and safety is all about, and even much less about what the law says about traffic.

The corruption of such a vital and important process — the securing of a driver’s license — is the real culprit behind most of the cruel tragedies that happen daily in all of the nation’s roadways.

And it comes as almost no surprise that most of those who get involved in such tragedies are those who, in one way or another, took the shortcuts to a driver’s license and did not go the full routh that would have at least made them a little responsible in driving.

And because the corruption is systemic, do not expect things to change even one wee bit. There will be the usual investigations and the usual breast-beatings and mea culpas. But in no time at all, things will return to normal, until the next tragic cycle occurs.