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Tag Archives: road safety
Road crashes in Antipolo
I open June with a post on road safety. Last week, I passed by many road crash scenes along my route between my home in Antipolo and my office in Quezon City. Many were the now common crashes involving motorcycles. And there were those involving vehicles that got too close to each other in heavy traffic (e.g., tailgating vehicles eventually bumping the vehicle ahead of them). I was able to get photos of the site of the more serious crashes.
Head on collision of a car and owner-type jeepney along Marcos Highway near the junction with Amb. Neri Road. These crashes are largely preventable if drivers kept to their lanes and refrained from violating the rule of the double yellow line separating opposing flows of traffic. I’ve written about counter flowing before but focused on it leading to traffic congestion. A more serious repercussion would be crashes like this.
Overturned passenger jeepney along Marcos Highway in Mambugan, Antipolo. Speeding and unnecessary manoeuvres along this highway often has led to drivers losing control of their vehicles and, in this case, the vehicle turning over and likely hurting (hopefully not killing) passengers. This is again a very preventable crash considering it can be addressed by proper (read: safe) driving as well as enforcement.
Final ‘resting place’ of a truck that apparently lost control along the Tikling bound side of Ortigas Ave. Extension in Barangay Dolores, Taytay. I’ve noticed many breakdowns and crashes involving trucks along this highway as well as Sumulong Highway and Marcos Highway. Many, it seems, involve poor maintenance of these vehicles as well as overloading. Poorly maintained vehicles may lose control with or without their loads and lead to such crashes that in many cases are fatal to innocent bystanders.
With the onset of the rainy season, many roads will be slippery and this will tend to make them more dangerous. In the cases I mentioned above, most crashes are not the fault of the roads or the infrastructure but of the drivers and/or operators of the vehicles. Most crashes are preventable and are caused by driver error, negligence or aggressive behaviour. It is often the nut behind the wheel who is responsible for such crashes rather than the vehicle or the road.
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Is a truck ban the solution to truck-related crashes in Antipolo?
The crash near Masinag Junction in Antipolo City that led fatalities, injuries, damage to property and terrific costs due to the congestion was caused by a truck that apparently had defective brakes. I’ve read some posts on social media calling for a truck ban in Antipolo City. Some comments go as far as specifying major roads like Sumulong Highway and Marcos Highway where a truck ban can be ‘most effective’.
Is a truck ban in Antipolo City and particularly along major roads like Marcos Highway and Sumulong Highway going to solve truck-related road safety issues? It should have some success but it does not address the root causes of the problem. Among these root causes are related to driver behaviour and the maintenance or condition of trucks. Issues pertaining to driver behaviour can be seen in the form of aggressive or reckless driving (e.g., speeding trucks, trucks weaving in traffic, overtaking at critical sections, etc.). Meanwhile, issues pertaining to vehicle maintenance/condition can be seen in instances where trucks climbing Sumulong Highway, Marcos Highway or Ortigas Ave. Extension tend to slow down traffic (overloaded and/or underpowered?) as well as in crashes involving the malfunctioning braking systems. These cannot be addressed through truck bans, which are likely to be more effective for cases of severe congestion that can be directly attributed to trucks.
A truck ban will only punish the good (read: disciplined and competent) drivers and responsible truckers/truck operators. Good drivers know their traffic rules and regulations and how to position themselves on the roads as well as the speeds they need to travel by together with mixed traffic. They exercise caution especially along areas where there are a lot of pedestrian activity (e.g., Masinag area, Mambugan, Cogeo, Tikling, Cainta Junction, etc.). Meanwhile, responsible trucking company operators would likely have more structured or organised maintenance regimes for their trucks and likely would have newer and standard (read: non-modified) vehicles in their fleets. These would be able to carry load according to their specifications and maneuver safely in varying traffic and road conditions. On a larger scale, truck bans will definitely have a detrimental impact on logistics that will carry over to the local economy as well as Antipolo is the origin of many goods/freight and much also pass through the city.
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Fatal road crash at Masinag, Antipolo City
I learned this evening about a major road crash that occurred at the Masinag Junction in Antipolo City in the late afternoon. This was probably why there was a tremendous buildup of vehicles along Aurora Boulevard near Katipunan. Marcos Highway’s capacity is already reduced due to the ongoing construction of the LRT Line 2 Extension from Santolan, Pasig City to Masinag. A major traffic incident like the one this afternoon surely affects traffic along this very busy corridor connecting the already densely populated eastern cities and towns (i.e., Marikina, Antipolo, Cainta) with Metropolitan Manila. This was actually along one of my usual routes between my workplace and my home in Antipolo. Today, however, I decided to take Ortigas Ave. Extension as advised by Waze.
I had written about Marcos Highway already being a killer highway (Another killer: highway…, August 6, 2014) though I think it is not at the level of Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City. Still, the potential is high for road crashes occurring along Marcos Highway and this potential has increased due to the hazards posed by the construction works between Santolan and Masinag. As they say, such crashes are disasters waiting to happen and such a disaster in terms of both lives lost and traffic congestion costs happened this afternoon when a truck plowed into a building at Masinag.
Hopefully, this crash will be an eye opener and would lead to immediate actions from the LGUs and agencies responsible for ensuring safe roads and safe travels to commuters passing through Masinag Junction and the two major highways converging there, Marcos Highway and Sumulong Highway.
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Safe steps – Road Safety
I would like to share on an initiative that’s close to my heart – road safety. I had been part of several road safety initiatives before and continue to be part of several today. I have also been doing research on pedestrian and cycling safety together with my students as part of our institute’s research agenda. Here is an example of very good promotional material on road safety including videos highlighting relevant statistics on safety that we should be aware of as well as encourage us to act and contribute towards safer roads for everyone.
Featured in the videos is Road Safety Ambassador Michelle Yeoh, whom people might remember for the movie “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” that now has sequel at Netflix. I had the honor and pleasure of meeting her many years ago when she was in Manila to speak on road safety at the Asian Development Bank’s Transport Forum. In fact, she visited the University of the Philippines Diliman to inaugurate the road safety and traffic discipline zone that is the campus core and along the Academic Oval. I had the privilege of driving her around the oval on an electric jeepney.
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Voyeurism
This seems to be an unusual topic for this blog. However, I thought I’d comment about voyeurism in relation to transport or traffic as I observed a lot of people having cameras installed on their vehicle’s dash boards and local government units utilizing CCTV cameras for monitoring traffic.
In the case of LGUs, while there are already many cases where action was taken by authorities for traffic violations and other anomalies that they see on their camera, there are still as many cases when there are no actions taken to address issues. These include instances where CCTV cameras recorded reckless driving or riding and the videos were clear enough to identify the vehicles involved. These videos were likely not used to
Then there is the concern with motorists who have dash cams and are able to record reckless driving and other issues as they travel. Some post their videos on social media with the more interesting ones becoming click baits as they are shared by many. I found it disturbing that people take videos of road crashes and appear not to help the victims. They are essentially voyeurs, too. Posting these things on social media doesn’t count as help. It seems insensitive and unemphatic for people to be recording stuff and saying something about how these shouldn’t be and yet do nothing about the situation. Certainly, these are sins of omission that can be regarded along the lines of the sins committed that they recorded and shared.
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Counterflow culture: pang-iisa
There are several videos currently circulating in social media showing counter-flowing motorists. In one, a driver with a camera on his dashboard proactively positions his vehicle along the middle lane of the correct side of the road and engages a counterflowing motorist who initially appeared as if he were going to insist on his wrong behavior (feeling entitled perhaps?). The driver with the dash cam didn’t budge or give way and the errant driver had to go back to his correct lane.
In another, more serious video, another dash cam records a scene along a curved 2-lane section of Marcos Highway where an oncoming motorcycle slammed into a counterflowing vehicle coming from the left side of the vehicle with the dashcam. It was clear that the counterflowing motorist violated the double yellow line rule, which led to the dreadful crash.
These are examples of what seems to be a counterflow epidemic among many motorists. Counterflowing is not only prevalent among motorcycles and public utility vehicles but among private vehicles as well. There are even those who follow emergency vehicles that legitimately and urgently use the opposing traffic lane. This behavior seems to be associated with these motorists wanting to get ahead of others. In Filipino or Tagalog, the term is translated to pang-iisa or gustong maka-isa (wanting to get one up on other people). This behavior can be attributed to a person being impatient, undisciplined, reckless, feeling entitled, or – all of the above.
Such issues could have been preempted by a stricter licensing system that can be administered by the Land Transportation Office (LTO). However, since many already have their licenses then the burden for correcting such behavior falls upon traffic enforcement agencies and their personnel including the Highway Patrol Group (HPG) and the MMDA. Hopefully, such errant behavior can be corrected and our roads can be safer for all users.
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The benefits of walking
I came across an old article on walking that appeared in The New Yorker in 2014. This was after reading another article my wife shared that also was about walking. One is about both the physical and intellectual benefits of walking while the other was about walking without a purpose. Both were about walking and thinking, and definitely about the benefits of even a short stroll to our physical and mental being.
Here’s the article from The New Yorker: Why walking helps us think
And the article from BBC: The slow death of purposeless walking
I highly recommend both articles as we ponder about making our cities safe for pedestrians/walking.
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Tire conditions
While stopped at an intersection, my eyes wandered to look at the vehicles around me. I took a photo of the rear tires of a truck stopped beside me. Following are some observations about the tires:
- Most if not all the tires were re-treads
- Most of the tires are worn out
- One tire is already damaged and should not have been used in the first place
Such conditions of trucks’ tires reflect the state of many commercial vehicles in the country. The same observation applies to public utility vehicles. I guess there have been many instances of tire blow-outs involving trucks and jeepneys. These have not been reported as they often lead to traffic congestion (i.e., when a vehicle is forced to stop and block traffic), which is not at all an uncommon experience to many. Few perhaps have led to high profile road crashes featuring fatalities. Still, the potential for major crashes is there and it is contributory to disasters that are always just waiting to happen in many of our roads.
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Endangering others by your behavior on the road
A major concern in road safety is the behavioral aspect that includes the attitudes of drivers and riders. Aggressive and irresponsible driving can be observed along many Philippine roads including low traffic roads along which there is a tendency for motorists to speed up. Social media contains many posts of videos showing reckless behaviour (e.g., vehicles zig-zagging along roads), placing other road users in danger with the possibility of crashes involving or influenced by these same vehicles. There are also posts of photos allegedly taken by speedsters boasting of the high speeds they are able to attain or cruise along on tollways and even regular roads.
Such behavior, however, may be influenced by strict and proper enforcement of traffic rules and regulations. I would like to believe that it it should be easier these days to determine if vehicles are speeding beyond the safe speeds roads are designed for. There are many tools such as speed guns or radars. However, these are few with the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) having only two guns at their disposal. Operators of NLEX and SLEX are supposed to have their own speed guns and they have been apprehending speedsters as best they can. However, it seems that there are still many who are not apprehended and continue to pose as dangers to their fellow travelers. (I assume that those apprehended may also continue to speed up and do not get caught in most times they do.)
One creative approach for traffic law enforcement should be to browse social media of posts by people who claim to be running their vehicles at high speeds, violating road speed limits. Speeding is dangerous because drivers and riders will have less control over their vehicles and other elements affecting the vehicle. Perhaps the Land Transportation Office’s (LTO) enforcement arm should have an internet unit charged with searching for such cases online and investigate the identities of these people in order to flag them in the LTO licensing system?
Example photo posted on social media where the driver boasts of his reaching high speeds while driving in a Metro Manila road.
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Sudden intended acceleration? Intended ones are more dangerous!
The motoring community in the Philippines has been in rather heated discussions regarding the Mitsubishi Montero’s alleged defect that causes what has been termed as ‘sudden unintended acceleration’ or SUA. This term refers to the vehicle suddenly, and without the driver doing anything, rapidly accelerating, forward or backward, and hitting anything in its path. The proofs to these alleged incidences are supposed to have been documented by many including videos that have been uploaded to YouTube and even shared or used by mainstream media. The vehicle’s manufacturer itself denies that there is a defect in the model(s) being cited for SUA. They have also released a new model of the vehicle in the market and most people not paranoid about SUA seem not to mind the buzz about the alleged defect. The new model, after all, is supposed to be free of that particular defect considering the manufacturer, despite its denials, should have been aware of the complaints and concerns.
Defect or none, I think what’s more dangerous is not the ‘sudden unintended acceleration’ of vehicles. In fact, I am not aware of any fatalities attributed to this and all the videos I’ve seen alleging the defect happened in parking lots and driveways. These have caused only minor injuries and, surely, damage to properties. What is more dangerous and should be the concern by all is the intended acceleration leading to speeding (or over-speeding) that is so common in our roads regardless of whether these are expressways or city streets. Such behaviour are almost always intended and therefore the drivers are very much aware of their actions and in control of their vehicles. In control, that is, until they hit something or, worse, someone. Such irresponsible and often reckless behavior plague our roads and one person’s folly can be the doom of others as is usually the case in road crashes involving (over)speeding.
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Caught (up) in traffic 