EDITORIAL - Why there are wackos on the road

That incident the LTFRB is now investigating — the one about a taxi driver allegedly threatening a man and his wife with a knife and subjecting them to verbal insults and threats for demanding the correct change in the wake of new flagdown rates — is quite revealing. It shows to one and all what happens when government does not do its job properly.

First, the matter about the knife. Why on earth did the taxi driver have a knife? The driver in question has naturally denied possessing the deadly weapon. But hey, come on, what motive did the couple have in fabricating such a story? Even granting this particular driver was indeed unarmed and the couple, for some strange, mean and inscrutable reason did lie about the incident, it is still to be held pretty certain that many, if not most, drivers do have weapons of some sort.

To be sure, many taxi drivers are often the targets of holduppers, making it somewhat understandable for them to have some weapon handy. But that still does not answer the question why our driver, or any driver for that matter, would have some weapon easily within reach in his vehicle. The answer, quite simply, is because they can get away with it.

There is nobody in authority who makes it a point to check taxi drivers for weapons. The police, which thankfully conducts regular checkpoints, have made it a point to check only those on motorcycles and jeepneys. Why, they do not even check the jeepney driver but only his passengers. In fact, only the male passengers are checked, never the females.

So you see, whatever the police are hoping to accomplish with their checkpoints, it is very clear that they are not accomplishing it a hundred percent. And the reason they could not make it a hundred percent is not because it is extremely difficult but because the manner in which they conduct the checkpoints is, by itself already full of loopholes.

Second, the matter about threatening passengers. A driver who threatens a passenger with a knife, for no other reason than that the passenger demanded the correct change, is clearly a person with an emotional and psychological problem. How such a person even managed to acquire a license to drive public utility vehicles exposes the many shortcomings in the system of granting such licenses.

It seems anyone who can drive and pay the required fees can automatically acquire a license. The mental capacity to convey the riding public, which in a manner of speaking is interacting with people, does not seem to be part of the requirement. Again, the driver in question has denied the allegations, but that does not mean there are no others out there with very short fuses, who are just waiting for the slightest provocation to blow up. So, where do we go from here?