Motorcycles and Road Accidents

Just a few weeks ago I saw two motorcycle drivers lying in Edsa, in what looked like a major mishap between the two drivers. One was trying to get up, but the other seemed unconcscious. Bystanders from the sidewalks and the nearby overpass were looking on, as he traffic in Edsa worsens because of the incident. A few minutes later, I heard sirens of the ambulance. I hope they were okay.

A week before that, my mom had a mishap with, again, a motorcycle. It damages the side of our van pretty badly, while the motorcycle driver did nothing but apologize for his reckless behavior in the road. We did not get paid for the damages even if it was not our fault. The driver admitted that his brakes slipped him, causing the crash to our van's sliding door.

Another motorcycle incident occurred with my girlfriend, Bubbles. They were traversing the Banawe area when suddenly a motorcycle comes slipping through their side. Their driver did not notice the speeding bike, thus kissed their Revo's side, heavily denting its front door.

A lot of incidents involving motorcycles are happening these days. While the volume of motorcycles in the streets have increased by gargantuan proportions, our law enforcement officials seem too lenient when it comes to regulating motorcycle drivers. We still see a lot of motorcycle drivers without helmets, we even see policemen in scooters not wearing any helmet! We see motorcycles swerving here and there, beating the red light, turning in barricaded slots (since their motorcycles still fit the little holes in between), overspeeding, and some even contributing to noise pollution by playing loud music! What's worse is that motorcycle drivers tend to be ultra-arrogant in the streets because they know that when we hit them, we are the ones at fault. In short, motorcycle drivers are now the most notorious drivers in the country, even outranking our killer bus and truck drivers.

According to statistics shown by the LTO, motorcycles accidents are among the highest road related accidents in the country today. And many would agree with me that it is NEVER because of reckless CAR drivers. Most of the time, it is the fault of these reckless, misinformed, arrogant motorcycle drivers!

If ever there is a need to reinvent law enforcement in the streets, it's the laws against motorcycle reckelssness that need to be re-engineered the most.