Solon sacrifices right to drive for driver education bill

MANILA: Representative Lorenz Defensor of the 3rd District, Iloilo has, for more than 200 days now, kept his vow of not renewing his driver’s license, which expired July 24, 2019, until his House Bill becomes a law.

The bill in the spotlight is HB 3196 or the Mandatory Re-Education Program for All Motor Vehicle Drivers Once Every Five Years.

“My driver’s license expired last July 24, 2019, my birthday. And I do not intend to renew that until I see that this bill is passed into law because I want to be the first one to undergo the Mandatory Driver's Re-education Program as an example to all drivers that even members of the House of Representatives are the first to volunteer themselves so this will be followed by everyone -- public, private, rich, poor, women, men, young, old. Pag ang gumagawa ng batas ang mangunguna na ehemplo, dapat sumunod din ang lahat(When the one who made the law leads by example, everyone should follow>,” said Defensor.

Under the bill, all holders of a driver’s license issued by the Land Transportation Office (LTO) are required to undergo a one-day Mandatory Driver's Re-education Program once every five years. After completion, a certificate of attendance or participation shall be issued and the driver’s name shall be entered in the LTO database for monitoring purposes. The renewal of a driver’s license shall not be processed unless the driver has completed the number of hours of the program.

It will have modules for the following subjects:

1) basic LTO policies

2) road safety

3) road rage, anger management, and attitudinal driving

4) traffic signs and road pavements

5) other subject areas as the LTO may deem appropriate in instilling road discipline among drivers such as driver alertness, defensive driving, speed awareness, changing course, and the like

Defensor sees this bill as a measure to ease traffic, reduce traffic violations and road traffic deaths, and make Philippine roads safer for motorists, commuters, and pedestrians.

“Kahit gaano po kalawak ang ating mga daan, kung ang taong may hawak ng manibela ay hindi naiintindihan ang batas trapiko, angroad safety regulations, tuluy-tuloy po ang paglala ng ating trapiko, tuloy-tuloy po ang aksidente na nakamamatay, at dala ng aksidente nainjury and death,” (No matter how wide our roads are, if the person behind the wheel doesn’t understand traffic rules and road safety regulations, traffic will continue to get worse, the number of road accidents will continue to rise bringing with it injuries and death) Defensor said.

Statistics indicate that four people die every day in road accidents that could have been avoided if drivers were more responsible. Data from the Philippine National Police-Highway Patrol Group (PNP-HPG) showed that 1,186 people died in 9,663 road accidents from January to September 2019 alone.

In addition, the World Health Organization Global status report on road safety cited that from about 10,012 deaths in 2015, the figure rose by 25.75 percent or 12,690 deaths in 2016.

“The MMDA (Metro Manila Development Authority) attributed human error as the top cause of road crashes in Metro Manila,” added Defensor.

Traffic violations have also been on the rise. The Land Transportation Office (LTO) recorded 710,759 traffic violations nationwide in 2016, up by 22.98% from the 577,958 recorded in 2015. The MMDA states that in Metro Manila alone, there were 250,210 apprehensions in 2016, a 19.95% hike from the 2015 record of 208,602 apprehensions.

A minimal fee may be charged by the LTO a for the conduct of the program, to compensate administrative expenses for training materials, snacks, per diems of lecturers and facilitators, rental of venue and sound systems, and other miscellaneous or incidental expenses.

The bill also stipulates that government officials and employees who are holders of licenses issued by the LTO shall be the first to undergo the program within one year after the effectivity of the law. Drivers holding professional license shall fulfill the program within two years, and for drivers holding non-professional license, within three years.

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