ON the first Sunday of 2015, the parents of media personality RJ Ledesma together with his brother’s family were traveling back to Manila after spending the holidays in Baguio City. When they got to Apalit, Pampanga, on North Luzon Expressway (Nlex), they encountered some traffic and the bus in front of the Ledesmas’ Hyundai Starex van stopped.
The van they were riding, likewise, came to a stop.
However, the First North Luzon Transit bus that was behind the van wasn’t able to stop in time and struck the Starex with such force that it sent the van crashing onto the bus in front of it. The front section of the Starex got crushed and its engine caught fire. Responding members of Nlex’s patrol units were able to extinguish the flames later. Ledesma’s mom, Fortune, who is the honorary consul to Monaco, and his dad, Rene, who is the honorary consul to Bulgaria, along with their other companions, were badly injured.
In an article that appeared in Rappler.com on January 10, RJ described the injuries of his family members thus: “The impact was so strong that my mom was thrown violently from her seat, causing her head to ram against the back of the driver’s seat. This split her head wide open and left her unconscious. The impact left bruises all over her body. The other passengers in the van also suffered concussions, cuts and bruises.”
There were no reported injuries among the two buses’ occupants.
This writer, who was also driving back to Manila that morning, happened to get to the accident site moments after the crash. By then, Nlex personnel were trying to put out the flames and passengers were alighting from the two buses. Nlex personnel also temporarily stopped the flow of traffic to prevent other vehicles from getting involved in the chaos. We will not speculate as to whether the First North Luzon Transit bus driver was following the Starex van too closely, was distracted for too long, was drowsy, or if the bus had faulty brakes.
Nevertheless, here are some guidelines to prevent yourself from getting into a similar scenario:
Follow the three-second rule—The driver of the First North Luzon Transit bus seems to have not given himself a cushion of safety big enough for the prevailing conditions. To determine if you are following the vehicle ahead at a distance that’s safe enough, follow these steps: 1) Pick out a reference point on the road such as a sign, a tree, or a post, and 2) As soon as the rear bumper of the vehicle in front passes the reference point, start counting off three seconds by saying, “One thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three.” If your front bumper reaches the reference point before you’re done counting, that means you are too close and need to back off a bit. The nice thing about the three-second rule is it works for any speed. However, drivers of trucks and buses should use the four—or five-second rule. When driving in the rain or at night, add another one or two seconds.
Deal with tailgaters safely—A vehicle that’s following your vehicle too closely poses obvious hazards and, therefore, must be dealt with immediately this way: 1) Slow down and increase the following distance between your vehicle and the vehicle ahead of you so that you can avoid having to make sudden maneuvers that can catch the tailgater by surprise. This will also encourage the tailgater to pass or overtake you. 2) In a multilane highway, getting rid of a tailgater may be done simply by changing lanes.
When stationary, keep your foot firmly on the brakes—The impact that inflicted the most damage and most severe injuries to the Ledesmas’ van and its occupants was not the first impact from behind but the second one, when the van struck the bus in front of it. The Starex was reduced to a virtual ping-pong ball, moving in a direction and speed its driver had no control of.
Whenever you find yourself stationary in the middle of a road or highway, keep your foot firmly on the brake pedal the entire time. This will help slow your vehicle down or even prevent it from striking the vehicle (or worse, pedestrians) in front in case you get bumped from behind. What about simply applying the parking brake or hand brake instead? The foot brake is more powerful than the parking brake and will, therefore, do a better job at slowing your vehicle down.
When you come to a stop, leave a gap—Of course, the simplest way to avoid hitting the vehicle ahead of you in case you get hit from behind is to leave ample space between the two vehicles. Stay at least one car-length away.
Fasten that seatbelt—Many motorists have this dangerous notion that it’s okay not to wear a seat belt when seated at the rear. Remember that the safest place to be during an accident is in your seat, buckled up. It seems that Fortune Ledesma sustained her head injuries after slamming against the DVD monitor mounted on the driver’s head rest. The elder Ledesma wasn’t wearing her seatbelt at the time of the accident.
Use your head restraints properly—Head restrains are meant to prevent neck injuries in passengers of vehicles that get rear-ended. These safety devices should never be removed. As a general rule, the top of the head restraint should be more or less level with the top of your head. There should also be a gap of no more than four inches between the back of your head and the head restraint.
Image credits: Eric Ayrton S. Soriano, RJ Ledesma/www.rappler.com