Drunk Driving and Road Rage

At about midnight last Friday (September 23), I was jolted from sleep when I received a call from my sister who was in a rather precarious situation.

She narrated that she was driving home late from work and that when she reached España Boulevard in Manila, the vehicle in front of her, a silver Honda CR-V with plate number XJJ-833, suddenly stopped for no apparent reason. She honked her horn and flashed her headlights and when she got enough space, she cleanly overtook the CR-V. The CR-V driver then tailgated her car and, apparently irked at her, started honking his horn and flashing his lights.

My sister was likewise irked by the CR-V driver’s arrogance and gave him the finger. The CR-V then overtook her car then started cutting into her lane several times, as if taunting her. He abruptly and dangerously cut into her lane twice, which forced her to swerve and nearly collide with another vehicle. Narrowly missing an accident, my sister found the resolve to end the CR-V driver’s dangerous road game. She chased the CR-V up to the Welcome Rotunda and seeing the police outpost near the United Doctor’s Medical Center (UDMC), sped past the CR-V and blocked its path.

It was at this juncture when my sister called me on her mobile phone. She was asking me what to do. Their vehicles had stopped at the center lane after the rotunda and had caused traffic, and the CR-V driver was just waiting in his car. I told her to stay in her car and just wait until the police noticed them. I got off from bed, grabbed a shirt, hopped into my car and drove into the rainy night, praying to get to my sister before anything bad happens to her.

I reached the scene in about twelve minutes and found a police car parked alongside their cars. The CR-V driver was still inside his car and was being questioned by the two policemen through the open passenger-side window while my sister was standing in front of the CR-V. One of the policemen politely asked me to refrain from exacerbating the situation by intimidating or hurting the driver, which of course, I never intended to do. I only wanted to subject him to mental torture for tormenting a female driver.

When the driver finally alighted from the CR-V, he reeked of alcohol and was obviously tipsy. When I asked him why he was dicing with my sister’s car on the road, he answered with a slight slur, "Eh, ganyan lang talaga tayo mag-drive." (That’s just how we really drive.) I wanted to knock some sense into him and he must have felt intimidated by my questions because he asked the cops to not to leave us alone. Unfortunately for him, my sister also called our dad, a lawyer, who arrived a few minutes later. Earlier, a male cousin was passing by and stopped to offer help. Their arrival probably intimidated him further because he ducked into the police outpost while we waited for the traffic investigator to arrive. (Aw, shucks! There goes my chance to torture him mentally!)

After about nearly an hour, two young-looking traffic cops arrived on board a small scooter. They immediately apologized for their delay citing that they had to respond to another vehicular accident first before we could respond to ours. After they surveyed the situation, they asked my sister and the CR-V driver to follow them to the Traffic Section Station on EDSA near the Balintawak Cloverleaf. One of the responding traffic cops rode with the CR-V driver, which I found quite irregular and highly suspicious especially after they already got his driver’s license, as well as my sister’s.

At the station, the CR-V driver who was later identified as Philip Neri, a Pagcor employee, seemed to have sobered up and as if on cue, started apologizing to my sister for his malevolent roadside manners. Unimpressed with his seemingly patronizing apologies, my sister nevertheless accepted his apology but wanted to teach him a lesson and file a complaint against him for drunk driving and reckless driving. This is where the story gets downright disappointing.

To file a complaint for drunk driving or driving under the influence (DUI), the complainant must secure a medical report from an authorized hospital or medico legal which shows that the suspect has a high alcohol level in his blood to prove that he is really intoxicated. Aren’t the cops supposed to have a breath analyzer for this purpose? Aren’t they supposed to give a sobriety test to a suspected drunk driver? Last time I checked, there is a law on drunk driving yet the cops in the Traffic Section Station seemed unsupportive and sounded like they just wanted to settle this case quickly and amicably, even telling us that drunk driving cases seldom prosper.

Drunk driving has caused a sizable number of road accidents in the country yet many drivers continue to drive even when they’re intoxicated, especially after a weekend night-out. Unfortunately, the cops are powerless to implement the law because they don’t have the training, the equipment and the manpower, the budget of which was lost to political maneuverings. And don’t even ask whatever happened to the Road User’s Tax which can be used to fund traffic safety enforcement — it was simply consumed by conscienceless politicians who are concerned more with their personal aggrandizement than with public road safety.

As exhibited by Philip Neri, drunk driving coupled with road rage can lead to reckless driving and can be potentially very dangerous. If my sister wasn’t a skillful driver, she might have plowed into a collision with another car, and Neri might just have just driven away, smug in the thought that he had beaten a lady driver. Fortunately for Neri, the other driver he diced with that Friday midnight was a strong yet forgiving and God-fearing person who just wanted to do the right thing. Had he diced with a gun-toting devil-may-care character, he could have been shot and his family could only bear the loss.

Must we wait until a scion or a family member of a high-ranking government official gets killed in a drunk driving-related accident before any action is taken by government? Must we wait until a celebrity, official or public figure gets killed or kills in a road rage shooting incident before any effective enforcement is applied? Must we wait until somebody in our family becomes a victim before we act? I certainly hope not.

For your reactions, text this column or send an email to [email protected] and show government your concerns against drunk driving and road rage.

Boy, are you guys excited to read about the new vehicle releases out there (many are very inquisitive, too)! Here are some of your comments and requests from last week.

Illegal parking along Capulong Highway, especially at the back of Police Station 1. This poses danger to motorists. — 09209507502

I had my tires changed and the shop said that my rims were deformed and need to be cooked. Is this a rip-off? — 09178459239 Not necessarily. Allow them to show you how much the rims were deformed. If the damage to the rim is visible to the untrained eye, then they have a point.

I noticed an increase in motorcycles. I’m not against them but I hope the slow moving ones do not occupy the fast lanes (they always do). — 09178393826

Has anybody noticed the increasing number of motorcycle riders nowadays? Driving has become more dangerous with them on the road! — 09209030517 Actually, studies show that in other countries, motorcycle riders get into far less accidents than car drivers do. Of course they probably have stricter measures for license processing, to begin with.

Can you feature the differences between the top pick-up trucks: the Toyota Hi-lux, The Isuzu D-MAX, the Nissan Frontier, and the coming new Mitsubishi Strada? — 09213049117 We will, but it will have to wait until we’ve actually driven the new Strada, which isn’t really due to come until early next year.

I always read your section. Can you feature the Suzuki Swift and compare it with the Toyota Vios or Honda Jazz? — 09228118731 We will, too. After we’ve driven the Swift, which is sometime next month.

Why don’t Ford, Chevrolet and other US and European brands bring in the diesel variants of their full size pickups, cars and SUVs as well? — 09209228096 Because there is a very small market for high-end diesel cars at the moment. But a few cars, like BMW’s fantastic 530d, are changing that now. Watch out for more diesel variants from the likes of BMW and Volvo soon.

I’m hoping you can test drive the Hyundai Tucson. Keep up the good work. Thanks. — 09173219454

The Backseat Driver reactions section is always a fun part to read. But is it possible not including the editor’s reaction at the end of each message? — 09196377017 Done. From now on, we’ll answer only those messages that actually ask questions. Fair enough?

Speak out, be heard and keep those text messages coming in. To say your piece and become a "Backseat Driver", text PHILSTAR<space>FB<space>MOTORING<space>YOUR MESSAGE and send to 2333 if you’re a Globe or Touch Mobile subscriber or 334 if you’re a Smart or Talk ’n Text subscriber or 2840 if you’re a Sun Cellular subscriber. Please keep your messages down to a manageable 160 characters. You may send a series of comments using the same parameters.