Lawmaker bats for single moms as bus drivers

MANILA, Philippines - A party-list lawmaker urged Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Francis Tolentino yesterday to push for the hiring of single mothers in the agency’s plan to tap female bus drivers to reduce vehicular accidents.

You Against Corruption and Poverty (YACAP) party-list Rep. Carol Jayne Lopez was commenting on the MMDA’s proposal to urge bus owners and operators to employ female drivers because they are safer, better drivers than men.

“Single mothers would make good bus drivers because as sole breadwinners, they are likely to be extra careful not to put themselves and their passengers in danger,” said Lopez, who is a single mother and sole breadwinner herself.

She said the proposal “also serves as a window of opportunity for the employment of 14 million solo parents.”

She welcomed the MMDA’s proposal to have women drive public utility buses since figures show “that in the previous year, there were 260 fatal road accidents by male drivers, while there were only 60 fatal road accidents by female drivers, whom I believe to be less aggressive but more disciplined in driving.”

MMDA records also show that 80 percent of the accidents in the country are due to reckless driving, mostly committed by male drivers who are driving while intoxicated, not wearing a seatbelt, breaking traffic rules or speeding.

Lopez recently filed House Bill 3391, which seeks to grant a 20-percent discount on milk, diaper and medicine products to solo parents.