Op-Ed: Accidents waiting to happen | Editorial – The Philippine Star
Motorist assistance desks have been set up as usual all over the country and traffic management personnel have been deployed around cemeteries as Filipinos remember the dead this week, a peak season for travel.
Beyond the holiday period, however, authorities must do more to improve road safety. Last week four people were killed, with another dying later in a hospital, after a trailer truck plowed into eight vehicles along the Batasan-San Mateo Road in Barangay Batasan Hills in Quezon City. About 10 others were injured.
Police said truck driver Nilo Calimutan lost control of the vehicle when its brakes failed apparently due to the weight of its cargo of steel posts. The truck toppled on its side, creating a horrendous traffic jam as the steel posts spilled out onto the road.
The driver remains in police detention and would have to answer for the deaths and injuries. Probers, however, should also look into the liability of the truck owner or operator who decided to put all that weight onto the trailer. Transport authorities should also determine whether the truck undergoes regular maintenance checks for roadworthiness, especially the brakes.
Too many road accidents have been attributed to faulty vehicle brakes. The mechanical failure, however, is not inevitable. While vehicle checkups are costly, anyone who can afford to buy a trailer truck should have ample funds for regular maintenance especially of brakes. Such truck owners should also have enough funds to employ drivers with sufficient experience to drive carefully when transporting heavy cargo, and to detect signs of failing brakes.
Last week’s accident was just one of the worst involving failed brakes. How many other vehicles with weak brakes are out there? No motorist assistance desk can protect the public from such accidents waiting to happen.
ASEAN NEWSPAPER OPINIONS AND EDITORIALS
7.1. Surveying the surveyor– The Daily Tribune
7.2. General Año – from AFP to DILG– The Manila Bulletin
7.3. Coming as themselves– The Manila Standard
7.4. LAW FRAT’S SYMBOL OF JUSTICE– The Manila Times
7.4. LAW FRAT’S SYMBOL OF JUSTICE– The Manila Times
7.5. Honoring their uncommon valor– The Philippine Daily Inquirer.
7.6. Accidents waiting to happen – The Philippine Star
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