September mourn?

Neil Diamond had his hit song September Morn but this article has nothing to do with it. In fact many people won’t be feeling romantic when the month of September rolls in especially if you own more than one vehicle, and if you are one of those who believe they can “Drink & Drive.” Yes, come September many of you may well be mourning, if not yelling and screaming in the streets.

Come September, the Department of Transportation and Communications through the Land Transportation Office (LTO) will be implementing its plan to replace ALL vehicle license plates with their new and improved license plates for all types of land-based motorized vehicles. September is also when we’ll find out just how tough the rules and regulations will be concerning the Anti-Drunk Driving law will be.

First up, from what’s been said on radio and print media, there will be no ifs and buts and no exemptions from the total eradication of old plates. But judging from initial reactions, the DOTC–LTO plan is easier said than done. First to object to the idea are vehicle owners with perfectly good and decent license plates especially those who have relatively new cars. Then of course there are the tricycle driver/owners and jeepney operators.

At the core of their objection is the fact that in our odd-even reality of multiple vehicle ownership, having to change two to three sets of license plates at a cost of P450 per set is not chump change. Most middle class families who have at least 4 driving members of the family each with a dedicated vehicle, the “unnecessary’” or “unjustified” need to change plates is predictably unpopular if not unacceptable.

If that’s not bad enough, the new plates as I mentioned in an earlier column, come with a set of “screws” whose inclusion in the package and requirements seem intended to screw vehicle owners twice over because the screws are allegedly a security feature of license plates that are meant to alert authorities to possible tampering of license plates. Apparently the geniuses at the DOTC are convinced that license plates never ever have to be removed from a vehicle and the only time that can happen is when someone “tampers’ with them. If their definition of “tampering” is unscrewing or removing the license plate regardless of reason then they win the argument.

But what happens when some local authority in some province decides to remove or confiscate your plates for an alleged traffic violation, which has happened to many of us while going out of town? What happens when someone rear-ends your vehicle and you need to remove the plate number to re-spray your bumper or when you have your car repainted? What happens when someone accidentally hooks or bends your license plates, which is a very common occurrence with our very poorly designed and extra long license plates?

What exactly are we expected to do? file a report and get a certification from our barangay that we are not carnappers and file an affidavit and an incident report explaining why we tampered with our own property? Do we burden the local LTO Offices with the hassle of verifying our cars are legitimate based on numbers and registrations? Considering they are an under performing department of the executive branch, don’t the people at the DOTC have anything better to do than screw around with screws and screw the Filipinos into buying new license plates so that the DOTC can claim that they earned a lot of money in the second half of 2013?

Are policy makers and the lawyers at the DOTC such obsessive-compulsive freaks that they need to have uniform plate numbers on all cars so that it does not upset their mental equilibrium? In the midst of scams that have been exposed left and right lately, the mandatory DOTC policy sounds OC or smells fishy. As they say; why fix something if it ain’t broke?

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Nearly 2 months ago, Congress announced that they had passed the “Anti Drunk Driving Law” which promises to be very strict and highly punitive for drivers caught and found guilty of Driving While Intoxicated or DWI. That announcement lost its thunder when government officials clarified that the law still needed an accompanying IRR or Implementing Rules and Regulations before it can be fully implemented. That finally happened this week but I predict that the fireworks won’t happen until September, when we get full disclosure on whose version passed. During the last Usapan AAP Forum hosted by the Automobile Association of the Philippines, members of the media learned that there were several competing groups and interests especially interested in influencing or dictating what should be the “blood alcohol level” to determine if a driver is DWI or Driving While Intoxicated. One group pushing for a low volume of 0.5 are health experts from the DOH as well as the World Health Organization versus lobbyists for the alcohol industry who want 0.8. Interestingly the 0.3% difference between the two standards reportedly results in 50% less road crashes.

Aside from the blood-alcohol volume, two points that will surely be something to watch out for is if the blood alcohol volume for motorcycle riders will be stricter because the crash risks for bikers are higher, and if there will be mandatory detention of a drunk driver because this is not stipulated in the law. Another suggestion that was being pushed was random testing at check points particularly in “after hours” watering holes and bar strips which is done in parts of Australia.

Without a doubt there will be a howl of protest and claims that the stiff penalties for DWI will create opportunities for corruption and kotong cops. Admittedly this is highly possible but as I pointed out during the AAP Forum, this is one occasion where I have no sympathy whatsoever for people who get flagged down for actually Driving While Intoxicated and then get extorted. One way or the other, it will teach them a lesson that you will pay because it’s no longer a good time, it’s a crime!

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