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I JUST
got a report that many victims of accidents on the North
Luzon Expressway (Nlex), that world-class diversion
road, were found with unfastened seat belts.
How many
times has it been said that fastening our seat belts can
help prevent deaths when a car crash happens?
From
January to December in 2007, a total of 1,628 violations
of Republic Act 8750, also known as the Seat-belt Use
Act, had been recorded at Nlex.
Before I
proceed, do you know why my admiration for Tito Sotto
will never wane?
That’s
because the former senator from Quezon City, also the
author of the antidrugs law, authored the Seat-belt Use
Act.
Who said
movie actors aren’t that keen on looking after the
people’s welfare and well-being?
Oh,
well, if I am not mistaken, Sotto will shortly assume
the position of Drug Czar. So, all those drug pushers
and drug-syndicate shenanigans out there, beware!
The most
number of seat-belt violations (208) at the Nlex last
year was recorded in January and the least (48) in
February. March recorded 135; April, 151; May, 175;
June, 138; July, 146; August, 154; September, 124;
October, 124; November, 153; and December, 72.
Always,
I keep saying that fastening your seat belt is a good
habit whether you are the driver or the passenger.
You need
to fasten your seat belt because doing it is not merely
sheer obedience to the law but, more important, it saves
lives. Not just your life, but other lives, too.
I met
two balikbayan a while back.
One
religiously fastens his seat belt. “It’s become a habit
for me,” he says. “That’s why even here, the moment I
board a car, I immediately fasten my seat belt.”
The
other doesn’t.
“I do
not fasten my seat belt here because everybody seems to
be not doing it anyway,” he says. “Besides, you don’t
travel that fast here, unlike in the US where we always
use the freeway, and freeway driving requires speed,
thus the need to fasten the seat belt.”
And the
guy adds: “I have yet to see someone getting a ticket
here for not fastening his seat belt.”
“Getting
a ticket” in
America
means a cop has flagged you down for a traffic
violation, like speeding, swerving or driving with your
seat belt unfastened.
This
nonseat-belt-fastening balikbayan was right when he said
he has yet to see someone “getting a ticket” for a
seat-belt infraction.
But not
in Makati, whose mayor, Jojo Binay, implements the law
to the letter. Binay has strict orders on his cops to
apprehend persons with unfastened seat belts when
car-bound in
Makati,
not to mention also requiring his men to arrest drivers
using cell phones when behind the wheel in the country’s
premier city.
Why
can’t the entire Metro Manila adopt Binay’s stance, if
not the whole archipelago, for that matter?
Going
back to that balikbayan friend of mine.
He is
wrong to assume that slow-moving vehicles can’t cause
fatal accidents. Statistics show that a car traveling
at 30 kph can kill the driver during a
crash/collision—especially if the driver is with an
unfastened seat belt.
I saw an
actual simulated head-on collision at 30 kph in a Tokyo
Motor Show trip a while back. The passenger (a
mannequin) with a fastened seat belt was “safe” but not
the driver (also a mannequin), which crashed through the
windshield as he wasn’t wearing a seat belt.
The
trick to make fastening your seat belt a habit is, once
seated, fasten your seat belt first before switching on
the ignition key. Same with the passenger: fasten that
seat belt once inside the car.
So,
c’mon, let’s make it a habit to think safe, to act safe,
to be safe.
I know
that Mr. Ping de Jesus, that indefatigable top honcho at
MNTC, is doing his utmost to always remind motorists to
fasten that seat belt when using the Nlex. I’ve seen
him pounce on that issue time and again, for which I
raise a glass to him once again.
It takes
two to tango, and so we must support the safety spin of
Ping by consistently fastening our seat belts when
traveling at Nlex—and also even off it.
Safety
is not just one’s concern but the concern of everybody.
After
all, we all own the road. Let’s use it with safety in
mind. Buckle up and save lives. As the slogan goes,
“The life you save may be your own.”
Pee stop
I
condole with GESSI’s Tom Garcia, whose mother, the
well-loved Tia Elena, passed away on January 14…. Some
members of the seminal Capalohan Group (Tito and Baby
Laurel, Dante and Ching Fernandez, Frank and Cora Leonor,
Louie Visorde and Sol Juvida) motored to Calauag, Quezon,
to link up with Joven and Elvie Florido today to talk
about the nation’s economic direction and the cheap Tata
Nano car (P150,000 plus) of India, among other
consequential topics. All the best, fellers! |
