IN the past years, we have seen our share of deadly accidents during the holidays, most of them caused by drunk drivers of all kinds of motor vehicles, and yet how many of them went to jail or were punished or even caught?
We have a national law against drunk driving. Republic Act (RA) 10586 or The Anti-Drunk and Drugged Driving Act of 2013 penalizes persons driving under the influence of alcohol, dangerous drugs and similar substances and sets stiff fines, as well as jail terms for violators.
Under this law, drivers who injure others while driving under the influence of alcohol must pay a fine of P20,000 to P80,000 and face imprisonment for three months. Drunk drivers who figure in fatal accidents will face a maximum prison term of 20 years and will be made to pay a fine from P300,000 to P500,000. Nonprofessional drivers found with a blood alcohol content exceeding 0.05 percent will be penalized, while for professional drivers, it’s 0.01 percent BAH. Professional drivers driving public-utility vehicles while drunk will have their licenses revoked.
This law should be strictly enforced—meaning all the time, everywhere, no matter who gets caught. But this is obviously not the case.
For instance, statistics provided by the Land Transportation Office (LTO) show that between January 1 and June 30, 2018, only 100 motorists were apprehended for drunk driving. If the law was to be strictly enforced, authorities could probably catch 100 drunk drivers on a single night in Metro Manila alone.
Authorities should start being vigilant; especially as Christmas merrymaking gets under way. All the merrymaking during the holiday season leads to a lot of drinking, the root cause of road accidents. Traffic laws should not take a holiday during the holidays.
However, as everybody knows in this country, it is one thing to enact a law and it is another thing to enforce it.
We need a composite corps of trained traffic enforcers to implement the anti-drunk driving law. Under the law, the LTO has the task of administering alcohol breath analyzer tests on motorists suspected to be driving under the influence of alcohol. But RA 10586 also states that the LTO may deputize traffic enforcers with the Philippine National Police, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority and cities and municipalities to implement its provisions. The government definitely needs to involve more personnel in addition to those fielded by the LTO, MMDA and PNP, and they would need the proper equipment, specifically more breath analyzers.
During last Tuesday’s road safety forum organized by Vera Files, MMDA Spokesman Celine B. Pialago revealed that the agency’s budget for 2019 was cut by P300 million, even if it actually needs to hire more people and procure more equipment.
Pialago specifically cited the lack of breath analyzers for suspected drunk drivers. She said the MMDA only has 47 breath analyzers, definitely not enough to enforce the law and prevent the many road crashes and pedestrian accidents caused by drunk driving.
She also noted that the agency could not deploy traffic enforcers in the wee hours, as it lacks the funds for overtime pay.
Filipinos routinely flout traffic laws, but during the holidays, especially in the wee hours after merrymaking, the more they do so. According to MMDA statistics, the most number of major vehicular accidents happen between midnight and 6 a.m. This is the time when drunk drivers are most likely on the road. So it makes sense to have traffic enforcers during these hours. And it makes no sense to expect traffic enforcers to implement the drunk driving law when they do not have breath analyzers to begin with.
This only shows how traffic officials who try to enforce laws should get more support from the government. For starters, Congress must give them the appropriate budget so they can do their jobs well.
Image credits: Jimbo Albano