The 8 Plate Debate

I came across this article the other day that explained how some police forces around the world insist on their officers being subjected to an attack by their own non-lethal enforcement weapons. I’m serious. For example, if a cop is issued an electric stun gun, he or she must first zap themselves a couple of times in order to know exactly how it feels and witness first hand how it actually immobilizes another person. If it is mace that they are issued with, they have to have it sprayed into their face at least once before they are allowed to carry it. After peeling myself off the floor in my hotel room, laughing from the mental picture that took a full two weeks to get out of my head, it got me thinking.

Why not try that here with our own authorities? Just think, if our lawmakers and enforcers had to actually experience the direct result of their laws, schemes, comments and actions, perhaps they would build a little more empathy for us and come up with programs that actually work, instead of just working to get more programs.

When the embattled LTO chief came out and said he would like to talk to congress about how to enforce the abuses made by vehicles wearing the controversial and highly privileged 8 plates, he was slammed immediately and told, “Why should you have to ask our permission to do your job? Just treat every car equally, whether it has an 8 plate or a regular plate” Ummm… lets see, maybe because the last security guard that tried doing that ended up getting run over and killed.

It is a lot easier said than done. While the statement may print well, it is incredibly naïve to think it would work on our gritty streets. To prove the point, I would like to see some of our politicians dress up in an MMDA uniform and try to stop a three-ton tinted sport truck that is speeding towards you. Maybe then they could understand why more and more traffic aides just turn a blind eye. The last time I stood my ground against a gaggle of polo-barong-clad Neanderthals in their ozone depleting back up SUVs, I had my fender kicked in by their rent a cop on a bike.

I once saw a very brave MMDA officer jump out in front of one of these arrogant convoys to stop them from using the yellow lane on EDSA; the lead black SUV with privileged plates went straight for him without so much as a token lift off the throttle. The MMDA officer narrowly missed becoming a hood ornament and dived over to the sidewalk. I stopped my car and offered to give chase. The MMDA officer simply shook his head and basically said that it would not be worth it. “They most likely have guns,” he explained to me in Tagalog. “If I don’t get shot, I’ll end up fired anyway.” He finished off in an extremely defeated tone.

A couple of weeks ago I was having lunch with some of the mobile patrol officers of the SCTEX. As we swapped stories over iced tea and pizza, one of the patrol officers shared his experience when he apprehended a relative of a congressman that had the 8 plates on his car. He had pulled him over for traveling at over 200km/h on the newly opened toll road. He followed procedure and showed the driver the photo and print out of his speed and asked for his license. The politician’s relative reminded the patrol cop of who his tito was and how powerful he was, blah, blah, blah. You know the script.

After a lengthy stand off, the patrol cop was able to stand his ground and confiscate the license. Around a week or so later, however, the patrol cop was summoned to the LTO in East Avenue, only to be told that he would have to personally deliver the license back to the reckless driver’s home in Ayala Alabang and give him a formal apology. All on his own personal time and at his own personal expense.

All of a sudden zapping someone with 1,800 volts or spraying them with mace doesn’t seem as funny now, does it?

My own brother was rammed on the skyway a couple of years back by one of these convoys for absolutely no reason. He was simply passing them on his own lane. They didn’t like that. He ended up crashing into the barriers from the impact of the back up vehicle. If that wasn’t bad enough, as he hopped out of his smoking car, he was surrounded by this idiot’s bodyguards who had all drawn their guns and were pointing it directly at his head.

When the Skyway cops turned up, instead of questioning and investigating, they actually assisted the VIP car out and refused to identify him to my brother. To this day, he still doesn’t know who the coward in the black Lincoln Town Car was. And needless to say, he was never compensated for the damage to his car.

Banning these special plates, whether it may be congress, senate, regional trial court plates or those endless and utterly useless commemorative plates that the LTO sell you one day and then fine you the next, may not be the answer. But it’s a start. It sends the right message. Nobody should be above the law. Especially those that make them.

Here are a couple of your Backseat Driver reactions from last week…

Our lawmakers will never make a law to reduce our country’s dependence on oil (and fuel). The reason is it may also reduce their overflowing allowance on fuel to gas up their families’ vehicles. There is one law that I wish to be created someday – “a law that will force these lawmakers to implement all the other (hundred) laws that we have today”. – luzvi (Funny, I could swear only James and I had access to the article above before printing. You sure you don’t have precognitive powers, luzvi? – Ed.)

“Color coding” is useless. If this scheme is the solution, then the sale of brand new vehicles should be limited to replacement units and the replaced units must no longer be allowed to operate in places where the color coding is enforced. But this discriminates against first time owners. The solution is enforcement of traffic regulation aside from logical traffic engineering and education. – manny (Seriously, you guys react to the issue of proper law enforcement even before we print the story? Maybe our authorities ought to take it from there. We’re all sick and tired of laws without proper enforcement procedures for ALL.)

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 2840 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.)