POINTBLANK
LTO as revenue-generating agency
The never ending problems on the road can be traced to the Land Transportation Office (LTO) itself. Instead of putting order on the road, it appears that the LTO is compounding the problem. Primary reason for this is that the LTO which is created to implement traffic rules and regulations has focused more on the revenue-generation aspect of their operations rather than the strengthening of information education on the drivers or motor vehicle users. Instead of being a policy making body, LTO has become revenue-generating agency just like the Bureau of Customs and the Bureau of Internal Revenue.
Many drivers, even if unfit or unqualified, are issued licenses. I have known drivers who can’t read and write but possess driver’s license. How they managed to pass the examination surprises me. I’m afraid, even the blind could also get a driver’s license. In the interior towns, most drivers, especially of public utility jeepneys, don’t know or respect traffic rules resulting to many road accidents. How then could we expect them to obey traffic rules and regulations when they don’t know how to read or recognize traffic signs and symbols?
There is also negligence on the part of the LTO as far as information dissemination of traffic rules and regulations is concerned. It appears that the LTO assumes that everybody is well-versed about traffic rules and regulations, when in reality even their operatives or officials don’t know it completely. Actually, traffic rules and regulations are not readily made available to the public. This is the reason why altercations usually occur between the operative and the apprehended driver. Most often, traffic rules and regulations are subjected to the interpretation of the apprehending officer with no clear-cut guidelines which is why conflicts arise.
There is also a situation where a driver is apprehended because of the LTO’s negligence. I’ve known a case where a driver was caught by an LTO operative because his vehicle does not have a plate number, but the fault lies on the LTO itself because the license plate has yet to arrive. The driver has made follow ups about his license plate for several weeks, but he was told to just wait since it is till on process. Clearly, it is not the fault of the driver not to have his vehicle’s license plate, but still he was apprehended by the operative.
The same is happening to motorcycles these past few days. Many motorcycles were apprehended for not having a renewal sticker on their license plates. It was found out, however, that the LTO has ran out of stickers reason why many motorcycles failed to obtain it. Then, here comes the operatives insisting on apprehending the motorcycle for not having stickers when the failure to provide stickers lies on their agency itself. If this is not stupidity what is?
There are still many problems in the LTO itself that need to be addressed for it to be effective in its task to implement traffic rules and regulations. We will be dealing with it one by one in the succeeding issues of The News Today. The bottom-line is LTO is not primarily a revenue-generating agency but a very important government agency intended to put order on the roads. So, instead of focusing more on how much it would collect from the fines it imposes on erring drivers, LTO should focus more on educating the drivers to avoid committing the same mistakes on the road.
