POINTBLANK
LTO as revenue-generating agency (2)
By focusing more on revenue generation (not only for the government but more often for their pockets) Land Transportation Office (LTO) has forgotten its primary role which is the promotion of road courtesy and the proper implementation of traffic rules and regulations. Many persons have died not only because of vehicular accidents but because of altercations on the road. The cases of Rolito Go and Jason Ivler could be cited as best examples. Why fights between drivers occur? Because of lack of road courtesy or discipline. Some drivers feel like they are the only ones using the road. They don’t consider the fact that there are other drivers who also use the road. Others do not even respect or heed traffic signs.
Road courtesy is important to avoid not only accidents but also traffic altercations among drivers. Promotion of road courtesy, actually, is part of the task of LTO being the government agency in charge of issuing licenses to drivers and implementing traffic rules and regulations. Apparently, however, LTO incurs negligence on this aspect as it focuses more on collecting fees from vehicle owners and fines or penalties from traffic violators. In fact, LTO does not have a concrete program in promoting road courtesy and discipline. This is even compounded by the agency’s indiscriminate issuance of driver’s licenses even to unqualified persons.
LTO’s increased revenue collections obtained from fines or penalties from traffic violations, actually, do not speak well of the agency. It simply means LTO is remiss in its task of educating drivers or motor vehicle users about the traffic rules and regulations. In other words, if LTO is effective in its task of promoting road courtesy and discipline as well as inculcating on the drivers the traffic rules and regulations, there could have been a few violators. For instance, in other countries, just like the U.S., traffic rules and regulations are properly implemented and religiously obeyed by the drivers. In fact, even we Filipinos, who tend to ignore traffic rules in our country, behave when we drive there. It is quite ironic, right?
Perhaps LTO officials should take a deeper look why drivers in our country don’t respect traffic laws, but do so in other countries. Just like here in Iloilo, perhaps we have the most number of traffic enforcers around and the most number of (confusing) traffic signs, and yet discipline and courtesy could hardly be found on the road. Where does the problem lie? Maybe LTO officials should also reflect on this rather than just focusing on filling their pockets with people’s money.
