EDITORIAL - Not fair to PUJ drivers

According to a report in our sister publication BANAT News, police are saying that public utility jeepney drivers who let carolers on board to sing to passengers can now be arrested.

Cebu City Police Office deputy city director for operations Police Lieutenant Colonel Miguel Andeza said the Traffic Enforcement Unit has been tasked to arrest drivers who let this happen.

Police said this was to keep passengers safe from overly-aggressive carolers who often turn up for the “ber” months, and also to keep the carolers themselves safe from any accidents in the streets.

We agree with keeping passengers and carolers safe, but we don’t think it’s fair for PUJ drivers to be arrested for failing to keep carolers off their vehicles.

While drivers are indeed captains of their “ship”, there is only so much they can do about carolers who insist on getting on board. As a matter of safety a driver must concentrate on driving while in traffic. He shouldn’t leave his seat to confront carolers, especially if they are just clambering on in the back.

Of course, they can issue warnings or verbal threats to carolers to make them get off. But when push comes to shove does the law have their back if they have to get physical to make them disembark?

Many years back there was also a proposal for PUJ drivers to refuse conveyance to passengers who are drunk. It became complicated to the point that some people asked how drivers can determine if one is just buzzed or totally inebriated, considering that people have different tolerances for alcohol after all.

It was also asked if drivers could use physical force to remove drunken passengers from their vehicles and if they were free from liability if they left that passenger behind and something happened to him.

Thankfully, today we don’t see PUJ drivers refusing or removing drunken passengers from their vehicles.

Yes, we want to keep carolers off vehicles, but arresting PUJ drivers for carolers getting on their vehicles doesn’t seem fair to them at all. Perhaps there are other ways.