Totoo namang pribilehiyo ang magkaroon ng lisensiya sa pagmamaneho. Kailangang dumaan sa masusing eksaminasyon ang sinumang nagnanais na humawak ng manibela. Sa kanyang pagpapaandar ng sasakya, nakasalalay kasi hindi lang ang kanyang buhay kundi ang buhay na rin ng kanyang mga pasahero. Kaugnay nito, tama rin namang magkaroon ng ilang regulasyon sa mga sasakyan ng…
The death on Friday of Lourdes E. Simbulan, a UP journalism professor and one of the country’s outstanding journalists, has brought to the fore yet again the issue of road safety, specifically road accidents on major highways caused mostly by bus drivers. While there is no doubt that these reckless drivers should be held criminally liable for their actions, there is also the matter of their working conditions that, for all practical purposes, ensure that accidents like the one that killed Simbulan would occur.
By MARYA SALAMAT
SPECIAL REPORT The public and government officials, among them President Aquino, always blame drivers each time a deadly bus accident happens. What they don’t know or chose to ignore is that bus drivers and conductors are working under severe conditions imposed by greedy operators and ignored by government regulators, thus allowing these mishaps to happen in the first place. Sidebar: For Provincial Buses, Physical Condition of Drivers — and Their Buses — Are Key to Safe Travel | More Motorcycles Mean More Mishaps
For the bigger bus companies plying the provincial routes to and from the National Capital Region, safety appears important enough that their regular drivers and conductors are given periodic trainings on road and driving safety. The regularity ranges from monthly to quarterly to twice a year.
Public utility drivers in the Philippines lament the seeming lack of government support and regard for their sector, but the country’s statisticians at least seem to give them due credit.