Licenses on the road

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor CHERYL CRUZ Desk Editor PATRICK PANGILINAN Busines Editor NIDA A. BUENAFE Sports Editor RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

There is a lot of good sense in the recent move to make the requirements for acquiring drivers’ licenses more stringent, considering the number of accidents on the road that seems to be growing with the increase in the number of motor vehicles on our streets nowadays.

The Philippine National Police has recently urged the Land Transportation Office to adopt stricter requirements for those applying for drivers licenses. In doing so, the PNP has cited the fact that human error is still the leading cause of vehicular road accidents, especially in the last three years.

Statistics reported by the PNP during the recent Road Safety Forum showed that about 75 percent of a vehicular accidents in the past three years were caused by driver’s errors like speeding, overtaking and wrong turns. These seem to indicate that those driving the vehicles involved are not fully aware of the proper way of steering a motorized vehicle, and a lack of knowledge on the rules of the road.

Among the proposals for the requirements from those applying for drivers’ licenses are that they should at least be high school graduates and have undergone drivers training, for those applying for professional licenses.

At the same time, also proposed were heavier penalties for those who continually violate traffic rules and regulations through the permanent cancellation of their licenses.

We often hear of those who have newly acquired licenses amusedly telling about how easy it was to acquire them. And sometimes those who manage to get them have never even gone through proper training in handling, especially four-wheeled ones.

More stringent rules and requirements will surely help in reducing, not only the statistics on road mishaps, but, more importantly, in the disability and loss of lives due to improper handling of the machine.*