EDITORIAL — Time to make some revisions

A lawmaker is calling for the review and revision of the country's safety laws to "address the liability of drivers in cases of traffic violations and accidents."

According to a report in Philstar.com, Bukidnon Rep. Jonathan Keith Flores filed House Bill 10196 to look into the "broad and mistaken application" of the Revised Penal Code and Civil Code to Road Mishaps.

He said his bill aims to “clarify the presumptions that are applicable in road safety incidents or vehicular mishaps to protect law-abiding persons from misapplied presumptions.” In particular, Flores wants to review the rules on “reckless imprudence”.

Indeed, we have seen this one too many times. In some road accidents it wasn’t really the fault of the one who ended up still alive but the one who ended up dead.

More often than not, accidents happen when a driver intrudes into the opposite lane to overtake the driver ahead of him. When this happens he runs right smack into a vehicle traveling on that opposite lane.

However, when the intruding driver dies, it’s the driver who was in his right lane who gets charged for “reckless imprudence leading to homicide”.

It’s not just this, sometimes pedestrians cross when and where they shouldn’t and get hurt, but still it’s the driver who was only following traffic rules who gets charged.

There was also a recent case where a motorcycle driver positioned himself in the front blind spot of a truck so he could be the first to go when the light turned green. He ended up getting run over as a result, and the truck driver was charged without him really breaking any rules.

We are sure there are other cases and better examples of people who should not have been charged over some traffic accidents.

Of course, this isn’t the situation for all accidents that happen on the road, just some of them. But still, it is a form of injustice when someone who is only doing what he is supposed to be doing finds himself charged when someone else shows up at the wrong time and in the wrong place, then ends up getting hurt or worse.

Yes, it is high time to make some revisions to these laws.