Driving a point
I was never a big fan of motorcycles – not in our country where there’s hardly any bike lane. Motorcycle riders also share the narrowest of roads with those who drive killer cars and buses. Ever since motorcycles became widely used, road kill figures have just gone up.
It is quite easy to acquire a motorcycle these days with numerous competing brands attracting customers through light-on-the-pocket financing schemes. A motorbike also serves its purpose – to get the rider to his destination just as efficiently as public utility vehicles. And with the growing number of bikes in busy streets come a volume of road accidents.
Watch the evening news and see vehicular accidents becoming a consistent headline feature. Accidents involving motorcycles have even become so ordinary and frequent media is compelled to look for new ways of telling the story just to humanize it: a family losing a bread winner, a fresh college graduate ending his dreams in a road mishap – these angles put a face to these recurring street tragedies, hoping they would make people care.
I once posted on Facebook about a motorcycle accident in Rizal, where the rider gets thrown off his bike – his head thrashing the glass doors of a funeral parlor. I’ve had responses humoring the incident as “drive thru funeral” or “death – door to door delivery.” It only shows common as they are, these accidents don’t shock people anymore. They have become trivial and there lies the danger: when we stop caring, we cease being cautious.
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It came as no surprise to me that in the Department of Health’s National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) study,road accidents are now the leading causes of injuries in the country. The NEISS recorded a total of 3,077 road accident-related injuries in the first quarter of 2010. That’s roughly 34 people getting hurt on the road everyday. Deaths excluded.
Just for perspective, the NEISS study shows 32.32 percent of injuries in the country are due to vehicular accidents, followed (not closely) by mauling (18.45 percent), sharp objects (11.87 percent), falls (11.71 percent), bites and stings (5.46 percent) and burns (1.26 percent).
The highest number of accidents is recorded in Central Luzon and Davao region although I believe the figures in Metro Manila and other big cities are understated. Many bike crashes whose victims get no more that a scratch or gash go unreported.
And the motorcycle has been the most common vehicle of those injured in road accidents, at 55.4 percent – far cry from the figure of those injured in accidents involving jeeps, trucks and other vehicles, at 15.1 percent.
With motorcycles, drivers, and passengers still hurtle down the streets with little assurance of safety. Although highly recommended, helmets, pads and driving sober offer little protection. If the other bus, truck and car drivers sharing lanes with them are reckless, a biker’s life still hangs in the balance.
Drunk driving is also blamed for most road accidents. That’s why the Department of Health is urging lawmakers to hasten the passing of drunk-driving laws. Many of those slapped with “reckless imprudence resulting in homicide” are charged criminally for the deaths they caused and not drunk driving which is just treated as a traffic violation. In other countries, driving drunk is a crime in itself.
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The unsafe roads in the Philippines were again brought to light in Cebu last month when a bus load of Iranian students on a leisure trip plunged into a ravine in Balamban town, claiming 21 lives and hurting dozens others. Weeks after, another bus crash killed 15 and injured more than 50 in Toledo City, Cebu. In between these two horrific accidents, a string of vehicular mishaps with substantial number of deaths hogged headlines in Laguna, La Union, and Tagaytay.
With the Cebu incidents the Land Transportation Office proposed that bus drivers undergo traffic law review and attitude reformation. In most of the recent road accidents, human error had beenthe cause. Drivers (the few who survive) always say they“lost control of the vehicle” while speeding beyond limits in dangerous road conditions.
Sadly, bus driversthink the sessionsare bothersome and a “waste of time.” The attitude reformation seminar is supposed to reintroduce drivers to basic road safety principles, defensive and responsible driving often taken for granted because of over confidence. Many of the bus drivers did not think they needed helpand oncewe begin denying we have a problem – then we really have a problem. Denial is one attitude that needs urgent reformation.
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The culture of safety and responsible driving do not fall solely on motorists, pedestrians and traffic enforcers. Media also plays an essential role in advocating road safety. While many television and print commercials of new cars banner comfort, luxury and enjoyment, these also teem with road safety violations or insensitivities, sending wrong messages to viewers.
May Altarejos-Cuevas, a road safety advocate and head of Project C.A.R.E.S., says many advertisements of car brands depict young people engaged in fun activities while speeding in highways in the comfort of their brand new cars and SUVs. These essentially condones “distracted driving” – another leading cause of vehicular accidents.
New cars may be roomy and comfy but a car on the road is still no party place.*
