EDITORIAL - Rolling coffins

As of early last night, 17 people were still fighting for their lives following a vehicular accident in Benguet province. The driver of a mini-bus and 26 of the passengers were killed when the bus slammed into riprap walls along the Marcos Highway in Tuba, Benguet.

It was the worst vehicular accident so far this year in the Cordillera mountain region, disaster officials said. Such accidents have become so commonplace along the winding mountain roads of the Cordilleras that you’d think enough precautions would have been taken to reduce the frequency of disasters. The government has done what it can, installing protective embankments and dotting the roads with warning signs. Transport operators, however, have not done their part.

Yesterday’s ill-fated mini Byron Bus must have been so dilapidated that when it struck the riprap walls as it rolled down the road in sitio Bontiwey, the bus easily rolled over. And as it hurtled down the road with the wrong part up, the bus roof was torn off. By the time the bus slowed to a stop, it was a horrid, twisted mess of metal, blood and body parts. Police said the bus, bound for Pangasinan, apparently lost its brakes. Twenty-four passengers died on the spot. Among the fatalities were two children aged 5 and 7.

There are still many so-called rolling coffins — old and poorly maintained mass transportation vehicles — plying the remote areas of the country. Vehicles, whether old or new, also figure in accidents because drivers are speeding even on dangerous road curves. Not a year passes without news of vehicles falling off a cliff or colliding head-on with another speeding bus or truck.

Some reports in recent years attributed the penchant for speeding to the use of shabu by drivers who need to stay awake for long-haul trips. The government responded by requiring drug tests for drivers. There is still no definitive study on whether the drug tests have been effective in deterring speeding and encouraging road courtesy. Whether the driver or mechanical failure was to blame for yesterday’s tragedy, it is too late for the casualties.