Picking up, dropping off bus inspectors banned
SAFTEY IN HIGHWAYS
LINGAYEN– The common practice of bus drivers stopping along any highway in the province to pick up and drop off ‘inspectors’ along the route is now illegal and violators (drivers and inspectors) will be fined progressively.
The Sanggunian Panlalawigan (SP) said it passed the provincial ordinance to put an end to the “unsafe obstructive acts of bus drivers and inspectors whenever inspection or checking is effected.”
Approved on July 13, 2015, provincial ordinance no. 27-2015 cited the need to enact a legislative measure to protect the life and limb of people from probable danger when traveling and to prevent unreasonable delay to other road users particularly in the province.
Board Member Raul Sison, the ordinance author, cited the dangers presented by practice of two bus drivers stopping in the middle of the road to accommodate alighting and boarding inspectors.
The ordinance prohibits bus drivers to make a stop in the middle of the road or highway to allow and accommodate bus inspectors alight and board another bus also parked in the middle of the road or highway or to converse at reasonable length while waiting completion of inspection/checking.
Penalties for first-time violators is P1,000; P2,000 for second offense; and P5,000 and imprisonment of not more than 30 days for third offense.
Persons covered under the ordinance are all drivers and inspectors of common carriers particularly buses plying the road, routes, and highways of or within Pangasinan.
That is, the ordinance “applies to all bus drivers and inspectors, regardless of their place of residence, provided that the prohibited acts are committed within Pangasinan jurisdiction.”
“The State under its police power is authorized to regulate the conduct of bus drivers and inspectors to ensure that life and safety of its people are not compromised,” the ordinance also stated. (Johanne Macob)
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