What’s your driving behavior? Have you
been texting or talking to a friend on your cellphone while driving? Those days are now numbered, not only for
you but for everybody else. It’s time to stop such bad habit, else you could
be flagged down by the police and cited for violating RA 10913, otherwise known
as the Anti-Distracted Driving Act, which became effective August 16th
this year.
All drivers think that they’re good and
can handle very well these two things: driving and texting or talking on the
phone at the same time. Well, the first
time you do it, you could be lucky, even the second, or third time. But you won’t be lucky forever. Sooner or later (I strongly believe, sooner)
you can get into a road accident (and this road accident will probably not be
only a simulation but real one).
If cited for violation of RA 10913,
you’ll pay a fine of P5T (first offense), P10T (second offence), P15T and
suspension of Driver’s License for 3 months (third offense), or P20T and revocation
of Driver’s License (fourth offense). How
will they know you’ve made multiple offenses? I suppose this will be based on a
database search under your name. In
other countries, police will simply call data center to find what’s in your
record, and presto they get the information in a couple of minutes. You probably won’t be able to argue with the
police, but you can make your arguments in court. All these are based on the assumption that
things would get efficient soon in all of our government system. Ah, that guy Du30, he’s got so many things to
do – or worse, we’re all expecting him to do everything himself. But that’s exactly why he has subordinates all
over government to do the things he says need to be done. And pronto!
Anyway, in coordination with the Philippine
Information Agency (PIA), DepEd, DILG, PNP, and private agencies and
organizations, the Department of Transportation shall undertake a massive
nation-wide campaign to inform and educate the public about RA 10913 for six
months from the effectivity of the Act, which is August 16, 2015. Through this write-up, I’m making my personal
contribution to the dissemination of information about RA 10913.
Those caught violating RA 10913 between
now and February 15, 2017, the period of the informaion and education campaign,
may probably be just cited and reminded that there is already a law against
distracted driving. I’m certain that
during this information and education campaign period many will be apprehended,
but I’m guessing that they’ll just be
cited and reminded of the law. However,
by February 16, 2017 those caught violating the law will have to pay fines.
Personally, I find this law appropriate. I’m always pissed off by drivers texting or
talking to someone else on the phone while driving. This puts the lives of people at risk and I
find this repulsive and inexcusable to say the least, especially when there’s
no emergency involved. I hope this law
will be uniformly and efficiently implemented.
Motor vehicle drivers, good or bad, must
always consider pedestrian behavior as driving variable that constantly
changes. Always drive defensively. And avoid driving too fast. Such behavior doesn’t exactly fit our roads
that are always in traffic gridlock.
###
No comments:
Post a Comment