Hi roming you are right I had seen in the province, that jeeps,bus and tricycle load passengers double or triple the capacity. Passengers sit on the hood, roof, floor, and portable stool or bench measuring three inches wide and six feet long for five thin passengers/children. Girls/boys, age 10 or 15, can be seen driving motorcycles/bikes, and are clearly without helmets and license to drive usually on weekend which they are so eager and confident told me that LTO do not operate on weekend.
Posted by Roming
In the US, 42,642 were killed in motor vehicle accidents in 2006 caused by 1) fast/unsafe driving; 2) right of way - failure to yield, disregarded signal, passed stop sign; 3) drove left of center; 4) improper overtaking; 5) make improper turn; and 6) followed too closely. (National Safety Council, US)
Faulty brakes always
There are no figures on 1) faulty brakes, the usual excuse in RP; 2) head-on collision; 3) sleepy driver; 4) driving under the influence;, and 5) driving a dilapidated/ancient rolling coffin.
Road accidents in RP kill people of all classes: Beauty queen, Iranian visitors, balikbayans, migrants to the US/other progressive countries, etc.
No way to survive
Last week in Benguet, a PU bus fell into a deep ravine killing 42 passengers - one was six months pregnant.
And the usual police report states: Multiple homicides/injuries caused by a vehicular accident. There's no attempt by any government agency, including Congress, to make PU vehicle owners criminally/civilly liable for: 1) owning and using rolling coffins without maintenance; and 2) for employing car wash boys as regular drivers for smaller pay.
Drivers/conductors can flee
When a dilapidated PU bus travels on a mountainous terrain, more people are expected to get killed uselessly. The drivers and conductors are free to leave and choose the easy way - flight to a far province, town, or city.
Unseen/unexamined
Next to useless vehicles are duly registered unseen/unexamined by LTO and the first to pass the emission test even if all of them belch the blackest smoke on the road/highway.
Can any national/local government agency help in preventing vehicles to run on faulty brakes and belching a cloud of black smoke? This is too tall an order to speculate as shown by road accidents.
Capacity x three
In the provinces, PU buses/jeeps load passengers double or triple the capacity. Passengers sit on the hood, roof, floor, and portable stool or bench measuring three inches wide and six feet long for five thin passengers/children. Conductors are ordered by bus owners to bring three or four portable benches just in case.
On her lap
Years ago, one PUJ stopped in front of a European tourist looking for fun in one West Visayan town.
The jeep that could load 25 had hidden/visible passengers numbering about 70. The tourist was asked to sit on the lap of a teenage girl who happily accommodated him and the girl was in turn sitting on an old woman who talked happily about the town revelry in previous years.
Not a murmur of complaint
As told by the tourist to his friends in Manila, the PUJ made five more stops to pick up passengers. And he sat still, perspiring from toe to hair. Not one passenger ever mumbled a whisper of complaint.
In the provinces, girls/boys, age 14 or 15, can be seen driving motorcycles/bikes, and are clearly without helmets and license to drive. Are they registered? Only God knows.
Figure on accidents
There's no accurate guess/figure on the number of deaths caused by vehicular accidents in RP. We only read the usual death count repeated after a TV/radio report.
There's no law either against overloading a rolling coffin that we see running dangerously on crowded roads or community.
Still running after 50 years
Above all, there's no law/rule here forcing the retirement of cars and freight vehicles bought in 1960 or 50 years to this day. Can steel for chassis and engines last 40 to 50 years without danger to people and other vehicles? If the answer is maybe, then Congress should legislate or classify old vehicles as useful only near farms without using highways of concrete or asphalt.
Lawlessness
If drivers/conductors can load people and cargo as they please, this is a form of lawlessness that can kill passengers without mercy.
Let's not wait until an old PU bus or vehicle is reported again as having killed 50 or 60 after falling into a deep river or creek. (Comments are welcome at roming@pefianco.com).
