Traffic violators and over speeding drivers, disciplined!

Tuesday last week, I was waiting for a tricycle for home when lovers on a motorcycle were hit by a bus running at 180 kph while the lovers were trying to maneuver over the opposite street. It was so sudden that the last thing I saw were the lovers’ cadavers, “heads” spread on the street.

The nauseating view has not left me until now. I was so enraged with anger to the bus driver who was over speeding on the highway.

While reading a national paper, I was somehow delighted to know that DILG Secretary Ronnie Puno is heightening his move against drivers over speeding and other violators of traffic laws and regulations.

Puno directed the PNP’s Highway Patrol Group (HPG) headed by its director, Chief Supt. Orlando Mabutas, to increase its visibility on national roads and other major thoroughfares and step up its crackdown against traffic law violators.

“Upon the instructions of the President, I have directed Chief Superintendent Mabutas of the HPG to step up its campaign against overspeeding motorists, drunk drivers and other violators of traffic laws,” Puno said.

Puno noted that most motorists seem to be unaware of the maximum allowable speed limits as prescribed under existing laws.

The prescribed maximum allowable speed limits under Republic Act 4136, otherwise known as the Land Transportation and Traffic Code are 80 km/hr for passenger cars and motorcycles, and 50 km/hr for trucks and buses in open country roads “with no blind corners not closely bordered by habitation.” On “through” streets or boulevards clear of traffic with no blind corners, the limits are 40 km/hr for passenger cars and motorcycles and 30 km/hr for trucks and buses .

On city and municipal streets with light traffic and not designated as through streets, the speed limit for cars, motorcycles, trucks and buses is 30 km/hr. For crowded streets “approaching intersections at blind corners, passing school zones, passing other vehicles which are stationary or for similar dangerous circumstances,” maximum allowable speeds are 30 km/hr for cars and motorcycles and 20 km/hr for trucks and buses.

I hope drivers now will take safety a part of their culture. We do not know who will suffer tomorrow, who will bereave over someone’s loss or who will lose a father, mother or a bread winner due to the negligence of others. I believe Puno’s cause against undisciplined drivers will go a long way.