Driving dangerously

This is the cost of irresponsible driving:

As of Monday morning, Cynthia Masongsong was recuperating from surgery to stop internal bleeding of the spleen.

Because of her critical condition, she had not yet been told by her family that she had lost her only child, four-year-old Malia, in the accident on Sunday at the NAIA Terminal 1 that caused Cynthia serious injury.

Mother, daughter and Cynthia’s mom-in-law had gone to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport to see off Malia’s father, Danmark Masongsong, who was flying out to the Czech Republic where he works as a machine operator, after a three-week vacation in the Philippines.

But what was supposed to be a happy family event turned into tragedy after a Ford Everest suddenly accelerated from a parking slot at the NAIA departure area and plowed into the crowd of passengers and well-wishers at the entrance.

The SUV pinned to death Malia and 29-year-old Dearick Keo Faustino, a company supervisor who was supposed to go on a business trip to Dubai. Faustino reportedly supported his siblings and elderly father.

That was Danmark wailing in a heartbreaking video that the girl pinned under the Everest was his child:“Anak ko ’yan! Anak ko ’yan!”

The SUV driver, Leo Sinlao Gonzales, 47, had dropped off his employer at the terminal. Holder of a professional driver’s license and reportedly a former overseas worker himself, Gonzales said he got confused. Now in police custody and facing years in prison for a double homicide and multiple physical injuries, he tested negative for drugs and alcohol.

In another horrible vehicular accident last week in Tarlac, families are also grieving over four children and their four adult guardians, while a two-year-old boy has become an orphan after his parents, together with the eight others, were crushed to death.

The reason? A Solid North bus driver had fallen asleep at the wheel and crashed the vehicle onto the cars lined up at the northbound toll exit booth of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway. The cars, sandwiched between the speeding bus and a container truck hauler, were crumpled like accordions.

Bus driver Teodoro Merjan has reportedly been stripped permanently of his driver’s license, after he refused to undergo drug testing. He’s certain to spend life in prison anyway, for 12 homicides and multiple serious physical injuries, so he’s never going to drive again. His family has lost a breadwinner.

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As of Monday, NAIA authorities had started replacing the bollards that failed to stop the Everest from crashing into the airport glass walls, mowing people along its path.

Seeing the apparent weakness of the bollards, which reportedly cost taxpayers P8 million when installed during the Duterte administration, people smelled corruption. President Marcos has ordered a probe into the deal.

Apart from installing new bollards at the NAIA, Transport Secretary Vince Dizon has ordered mandatory drug testing every six months for all drivers of public utility vehicles (PUVs).

Let’s hope bribery will not sabotage this requirement. It should be backed by random on-the-spot drug tests conducted by a composite team from different agencies.

Drugs can be flushed out of the system within a few days to a week, depending on the dosage and frequency of use. They can linger longer in urine, and longest – up to 90 days – in hair follicles.

Based on previous reports, the most common drug used by drivers is shabu, to keep them awake for long-haul drives. According to reliable websites on drug addiction, methamphetamine and cocaine can stay in the blood and urine for only up to three days. Drivers can learn to stay clean before mandatory drug testing.

To discourage shabu use, Dizon has also lowered the limit for the hours that PUV drivers can be assigned to drive, at just four hours straight from the current six. Who knew there was even a six-hour cap?

Again, the devil will be in the enforcement of this rule. What if the drivers themselves want to work longer hours for overtime pay? How will compliance be monitored?

Still, Dizon – still new on the job – can be commended for making an effort to promote road safety.

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Twice last year, within weeks of each other, I figured in vehicular accidents. Both times the vehicle I was in was at full stop at an intersection, waiting to make a turn. Both times I was hit by cars whose young drivers apologized and told me they had fallen asleep at the wheel.

The first was a head-on collision, with the other car jumping to the opposite lane and barreling toward my vehicle at full speed, first sideswiping a motorcycle whose driver flew into the pavement. The sleepy driver was injured and his car was totaled, but he was saved by the air bag.

The only reason I didn’t fly into a rage was because I was worried that the driver had suffered critical internal bleeding and needed to be rushed to hospital emergency. (He didn’t.) The motorcycle driver was rushed to a hospital but also fortunately suffered only minor injuries.

The second accident was a mild fender-bender. The driver wanted to just talk it out; the damage was something that insurance could cover. But I would have none of it. Like the driver in the first accident, I wanted him to have a record in the police for reckless driving, which can be accessed by the Land Transportation Office so an alert will pop up when he renews his driver’s license.

Both times my driver and I fortunately were not injured, although my head was knocked against the car window the first time. But the awful sound of metal crunching against metal is unforgettable. I can grasp the horror of those two recent deadly road accidents.

These days I drive with the thought that every other driver could either be functionally illiterate, high on drugs or suffering from a hangover. There’s no guarantee that this will save me from another accident involving a sleepy driver, or a speeding truck whose brakes have failed, but maybe it will minimize the risks.

Meanwhile, we await the impact of the measures announced by the government. The World Health Organization reports that road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death among Filipinos aged 15 to 29.

In 2023, the PSA reported 13,101 deaths from road accidents nationwide. On average, five children die daily in the country from road crashes, according to official records.

Malia Masongsong and Dearick Faustino have become the latest additions to the grim statistics. Sadly, they won’t be the last.