IN an effort to curb a recent spate of accidents involving cement mixers, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) reminded the owners, operators and drivers of cement mixers to put visible signs indicating “Loaded With Cement—Keep Distance” on their vehicles stressing that it create serious risks for motorists and pedestrians.
“More than that is we will enforce the following: all public-utility vehicle drivers, to include cement-mixer drivers, must undergo mandatory training,” MMDA General Manager Thomas Orbos said in an interview with the BusinessMirror.
Orbos, who is also the undersecretary for road transport of the Department of Transportation, said the training should be through the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board Drivers Academy that will be launched today, August 17.
“They should pass the exams. Also, we are looking into the mandatory phase out of trucks 15 years old and above. We are also working on to implement the motor vehicle inspection system that will ensure the roadworthiness of all vehicles. This should happen within the next six months,” Orbos said.
He added the operators and drivers should strictly comply with the signed memorandum circular to put visible signs indicating “Loaded With Cement—Keep Distance”-that would alert the motorists to keep a safe distance away from the cement trucks and mixers to avoid incidents, like when a cement mixer crushed a car in Quezon City on Tuesday afternoon, leaving one dead and injuring three others.
Under the memorandum circular, the permanent visible sign indicating “Loaded With Cement—Keep Distance” should not be less than 30 centimeters in height and must be prominent at the back and both sides of the truck.
Violators of the regulation shall be fined P500, without prejudice to the imposition of other penalties for other traffic violations.
Authorities identified the lone fatality as Ulysses Ramos, 34, the car’s driver.
The injured were Ramos’s wife Marife, 35, and children Eulariza, 12; Eugene, 8; and Enrico, 4. The cement mixer was traveling through the avenue’s southbound lane sometime before 5 p.m. when it suddenly lost its brakes. The truck, owned by Topstar Ready Concrete Inc., hit the center island and tilted toward the car, a white Honda Brio, with plate number AOA 3301.
The incident happened in front of the headquarters of the Bureau of Jail and Management and Penology (BJMP) on Mindanao Avenue, near its intersection with Congressional Avenue.
In June 2013 Marie Cherrie Inzon died after she was pinned by a cement mixer at the corner of Araneta and Del Monte avenues in Quezon City.