EDITORIAL - Rolling coffins

As of yesterday the death toll in the road accident last Sunday in Cebu stood at 21, with most of the fatalities Iranian medical students. Initial investigation indicated that the tourist bus lost its brakes, careening along the Trans Central Highway before plummeting into a ravine as it rounded a downward curve in Balamban, Cebu.

Transportation authorities have suspended for 30 days the franchise of JD Victory Services, owner of the tourist bus, whose driver was among the fatalities in the accident. The suspension is a small price to pay for 21 lives, with about two dozen more victims needing hospitalization for serious injuries.

The tragedy is just the latest in a long string of deadly road accidents across the country. Many factors have been blamed for the mishaps: bad roads, the lack of road warning signs, bad driving, and poor vehicle maintenance. In previous years, reports of drivers taking shabu to stay awake for long-haul trips prompted authorities to require a drug test for a driver’s license.

In the case of the accident in Balamban, local officials said there was a warning sign about the dangerous curve along the highway. The driver also did not appear to be high on drugs. From the stories of survivors, investigators concluded that the bus brakes failed. Accidents happen, but brakes generally give early signs of weakening. Those signs can be detected with regular vehicle maintenance. But proper maintenance is something many transport operators scrimp on. This is a problem not only in land transportation but also in maritime travel, which is why ferries plying inter-island routes in this archipelago easily sink in a mild storm.

Yet the so-called floating and rolling coffins continue to operate, endangering public safety. This is made possible by the unwillingness or inability of authorities to make transport operators responsible for the safety of their passengers, and to hold the operators criminally liable in case of an accident resulting in death or injury. Until responsibility and accountability are instilled in transport operators, there will be more mass transport vehicles losing their brakes and plunging into ravines.