TRB to review design of Skyway

MANILA, Philippines - State-run Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) is set to look into the design and safety compliance of the South Metro Manila Skyway being operated by a unit of diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) following the spate of accidents, the most recent of which took the lives of 18 people when a bus fell off the elevated road.

TRB executive director Edmund Reyes said Monday’s accident was the fourth since 2006. He noted that most of those involved in the accidents are public utility vehicles on the South Luzon expressway.

Before last Monday’s deadly accident, a Dimple Star Transport bus fell in July 2011 while an armored vehicle fell on a passenger car in January of 2007. A speeding sports utility vehicle also fell on a passenger jeepney last October 2006.

As part of the review, Reyes explained that the regulator would look into the maintenance record of the entire stretch of the toll road system.

The 16.4-kilometer road is operated by Skyway O&M Corp. (SOMCO) from Magallanes to Alabang.

Reyes added the TRB would consider the proposal of the Philippine National Police’s Highway Patrol Group to ban buses and trucks from entering the elevated portion of the skyway to prevent similar accidents.

Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga suggested that the operator of the Metro Manila Skyway should replace the railings with taller ones to prevent vehicles from falling onto the service road below.

Barzaga also proposed to the Land Transportation Office (LTO) to revoke the licenses of reckless drivers and implement a lifetime ban.

Barzaga said the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) must also continue monitoring the buses along Commonwealth Avenue where bus drivers often violate the 60 kph speed limit.

“The MMDA must zero in on these ‘flying coffins’ which have become a menace to the public, especially to other responsible motorists,” he said.

Sen. Ralph Recto, for his part, proposed a portion of the multibillion-peso road user’s tax should be set aside to finance road safety measures.

“My point is that the carnage on the streets and the chaos on our roads should prompt a readjustment in motor vehicles users’ charge (MVUC) spending. The body controlling it should depart ‘from the traditional signs-asphalt overlay-reflectorized markers’ that once dominated its expenditure list,” Recto said.

MVUC spending is controlled by a seven-man Road Board chaired by the secretary of public works and highways. Its other members are the budget, finance and transportation and communications secretaries, and three private sector representatives appointed by the President.

MVUC collections, which are expected to hit more than P12 billion this year, are treated as “off-budget” items, meaning details of their spending are not included in the national budget.

Recto said road safety education should be intensified by the government, saying that one vehicular accident is occurring every seven minutes in Metro Manila alone.

By Recto’s calculation, about P800 million – representing the mandatory 7.5 percent – of the P11.7 billion collected last year from motor vehicle registration fees is the minimum amount available annually for road safety programs.

“Actually, all collections from road user’s tax must be spent for road safety. That’s the end objective. But there’s a provision in the law specifically setting aside 7.5 percent of what’s collected for road safety,” Recto said.

Under Republic Act 8794, every vehicle is charged a Motor Vehicle User’s tax during annual registration. The computation is based primarily on vehicle weight.

The implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the law states that 7.5 percent of total collections shall be placed in a “Special Road Safety Fund” and allotted for “roadway improvements and repairs designed to reduce conflicts in traffic flow and the likelihood and severity of accidents.”

Recto explained that the IRR allows the fund to be used not only for “traffic signals, markings, lanes, traffic channelization techniques, traffic calming measures,” but also for “road safety education and training programs.”

He also pushed for the purchase of ambulances that can be stationed in traffic-prone highways, patrol cars which can run after speeding vehicles at night, and tow trucks to clear roads of stalled vehicles.

He said the MVUC should be utilized for reliable emergency accident response teams.

Recto noted the response teams do not have enough equipment when responding to accidents, pointing to the “jaws of life,” metal cutting or prying devices that can extricate passengers out of mangled vehicles.

He said MVUC payments should also be used to “light dark places, especially tunnels and underpasses.”

 Recto said the government should also mandate garage inspections of bus, taxi, truck and garbage truck companies that will conduct road safety seminars for drivers and “to check if tires are so worn-out that the vehicles on which they are installed are now accidents waiting to happen.” –  Paolo Romero, Christina Mendez