A mess that needs sorting out
| AN OUTSIDERS VIEW |
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| Ken Fuller |
Last week, prompted by the press release of Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr., this column discussed the question of bus drivers’ hours of work.
Barzaga also points out that the private policy institute Forensic Law and Strategies Inc. has recommended the codification of traffic laws, blaming “the surge in accidents on the lack of a road safety master plan and squabbling among agencies.”
Rather than being the responsibility of one agency, says Barzaga, the road safety pie has a number of fingers in it — those of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC), the Department of Public Works and Highways, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, the Land Transportation Office (LTO), the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, the National Police Traffic Management Group and, finally, local governments.
Sometimes, this tangled web can lead to potentially fatal confusion regarding the traffic regulations. (As I pay my road tax every year, by the way, on this particular subject I do not consider myself to be an outsider.)
When I first began driving in the Philippines, I was from time to time mystified when, as I signaled to turn left, an oncoming vehicle would give way to me, almost as if I had the right of way. You’ll probably believe me when I say I knew it couldn’t have been good manners or consideration for other road users, because it hadn’t taken me long to discover that those commodities are in short supply on Philippine roads..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101026com5.html
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