THE Land Transportation Office (LTO) is considering introducing a new driver’s license exam system to improve the country’s road safety standards.
LTO Field Enforcement Division Chief Roberto Valera told the BusinessMirror that the proposed exam will have two parts: a general exam and a specialized exam depending on the restriction code being applied for.
“Kasi [Because] previously, even until now, yung [the] exam is very general, so what applies to a nonprofessional driver’s license holder also applies to a professional driver’s license holder,” he said on December 4 at the sidelines of a VERA Files road safety forum at The Peninsula Manila.
“We want to change that kasi [because] we want to come up with drivers who are very knowledgeable about the specific restriction code that you have applied for,” Valera added.
However, Valera said there is no exact time frame yet for the revised exams as a technical working group is still looking into it.
Nonprofessional licenses are issued to private car owners, while professional licenses are issued to public-utility vehicle drivers. The two types use similar driving exams, with the latter having a higher passing rate.
The LTO’s license restriction codes include:Restriction 1—motorcycles/motorized tricycles
Restriction 2—vehicles up to 4,500 kg in gross weight
Restriction 3—vehicles above 4,500 kg in gross weight
Restriction 4—automatic vehicles up to 4,500 kg in gross weight
Restriction 5—automatic vehicles above 4,500 kg in gross weight
Restriction 6—articulated vehicles that are 1,600 kg and below in gross weight
Restriction 7—articulated vehicles that are 1,601 to 4,500 kg in gross weight
Restriction 8—articulated vehicles that are 4,501 and above in gross weight
Valera said although the Philippines has good road safety laws like the “Children Safety on Motorcycles Act of 2015,” the “Anti-Distracted Driving Act” and the “Anti-Drunk and Drugged Driving Act of 2013,” more work must be done to improve Filipino driver behavior.
“We are talking about the risk factors,” he said. “Yun yung mga [These include] speeding, driving under the influence, nonuse of helmets when riding a two-wheeled vehicle and those other special laws.”
Valera added that the agency has submitted to Congress an amendment to the Macapagal-era Republic Act 4136 or the “Land Transportation and Traffic Code” to include recently passed traffic and road safety laws.
“Hopefully, we’ll be coming up with a new Transportation Code and that’s where the standard will already be included and will become part and parcel of the new law,” he said.
In the Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety, which is the United Nations’s road map to improving global road safety from 2011 to 2020, developing safer road users is among the organization’s “Five Pillars.”
This Pillar focuses on programs that improve road user behavior, as well as better enforcement of traffic laws. The other Pillars are road safety management, safer roads and mobility, safer vehicles and post-crash response.
The UN’s road map is one of the initiatives that respond to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) findings that road crashes could become the seventh leading cause of death worldwide by 2030, driven largely by the “escalating death toll on roads in low- and middle-income countries—particularly in emerging economies where urbanization and motorization accompany rapid economic growth.”
Valera said the LTO is, likewise working, with the country’s driving schools.
“We are now coordinating with them to come up with the harmonized module with regards to training their clients,” he said. “Kasi [Because] if you notice, ang [the] modules ng mga [of] driving school, they focus more on the practical aspect. So we’re also going to focus on the theoretical aspect for them to be aware of the traffic rules and regulations.”
“This story was produced under the Bloomberg Initiative Global Road Safety Media Fellowship implemented by the World Health Organization, the Department of Transportation and Vera Files.”
Image credits: VJ Bacungan