EDITORIAL - Accident prevention

Accidents happen, but their likelihood can be minimized. Probers are reviewing the circumstances surrounding the horrific accident at 5:30 a.m. yesterday on the Skyway. Highway video footage showed a southbound Don Mariano bus cruising beyond the 80-kph speed limit for buses when it swerved to the right. As it rammed the railing, the bus flipped over and flew off the elevated tollway.

The bus crumpled as it landed on a van traveling northward along the West Service Road in Barangay Marcelo Green in Parañaque. Many of the fatalities died at the scene, crushed in the wreckage of the two vehicles. It took time before the victims could be extricated from the mass of twisted steel. By early evening, the confirmed death toll stood at 18, with 16 injured including the drivers of both the bus and van.

It wasn’t the first accident on the Skyway but the human toll was the worst. Probers said the road was slippery from the rain. Survivors said the bus was speeding moments before it careened out of control. The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board grounded the entire Don Mariano Transit Corp. fleet – one of the nation’s largest with 78 vehicles – pending the results of the probe. Reports said the bus company had been investigated for other incidents in recent years.

Road accidents claim scores of lives nationwide every year. Many of the deadliest cases involve buses and trucks speeding on highways. Several factors make traveling by land hazardous in this country. Speed limits are rarely enforced and traffic signs are often ignored. Many bus operators have upgraded their fleet but scrimp on maintenance costs, even if this raises the risks of brake failure and poor maneuverability.

Drivers have also been found to take drugs to keep them awake during long or pre-dawn trips. Probers said yesterday that the driver of the ill-fated Don Mariano bus would be checked for drug use.

When the investigation is over, however, this could end up just like many other previous inquiries into fatal vehicular accidents, with no one being penalized or held responsible. The situation is the same in the maritime industry, where no one has ever been sent to prison or even slapped a hefty fine for the deaths of thousands of passengers in the past three decades. As long as players in the transportation industry feel no urgency to make passenger safety their top priority, there will be no improvement in road safety standards and accident prevention.