Here and There
Two and three-wheeled hazards in open road
By Gerry Garcia
WITH the season of joy and goodwill barely over, we’re in no mood to grapple in this column with the complex and often confused issues relating to former President Erap’s long running detention (or vacation?) at his sprawling rest-house in Tanay, Rizal.
In this province of Pangalatoks, discussions of such issues and similar others is limited to barber shops and to clusters of local politicians running for reelection in the coming May polls.
What has not escaped our concern at the moment, as private motorists plying the highways and open roads almost every day, is the proliferation of tricycles and motor bikes.
The 3-wheeled mini cabs, especially, have grown in number and, given access to highways illegally; have become frequent causes of mishaps and mayhem . . . usually during night-time.
These tri-bikes teeming in high-speed open roads, often heavily traveled, have become inconvenient nuisances, especially to motorists trailing behind them. During night-time, most of them bereft of rear-end lights, become easy victims of hit-and-run accidents.
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The mounting number of motorcycles on the highway also has become a major cause of concern not only because of their reckless speed but also of the recklessness of their drivers revving up speed with fellow-riders in tandem or, worse, with infant baby astride the steering handle.
Motor bike riders in skirts too are becoming common. These women drivers, like their male counterparts, can’t resist the temptation to race with drivers of 4-wheeled sedans on the highway, often with disastrous consequence.
If land transport authorities can’t implement the standing ban on trikes in the open highway, they should at least caution trike drivers against plying the highway at night without rear lighting systems. Even the more common bicycles are often seen on the road without tail-end lights traveling in the darkness of the night.
Police log books in the province are probably lousy with names of hit-and-run victims of accidents taking place under cover of darkness.
(For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/here-and-there/)
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