Help To Make Public Transport Safer By Signing This Petition Asking For Speed Limiters To Be Mandatory On Busses, Trucks And PUVs
Enough Is Enough: Yesterday saw yet another bus involved in a serious accident. A car was crushed on EDSA in Quezon City and this was just the latest in a long string of serious, and sadly often deadly, incidents involving busses. Still not enough is being done to make public transport in the Philippines safer and the current state of affairs is quite frankly unacceptable, but with your help we can try and change that! Motoring journalist and all-round good guy James Deakin started a petition a while ago to get a law passed that requires all busses, trucks and PUVs to have speed limiters installed. This petition currently sits at 17000 signatures but we need more!
Public transport in the Philippines certainly isn’t “more fun”, unless your idea of fun is to take your life into your own hands every time you board a bus or PUV. The sad thing is that there is absolutely no reason whatsoever why it has to be like this. Change for the better always has to start somewhere, and you can contribute towards making public transport safer by supporting this petition, which was set up last year by James Deakin. It simply asks the government to revoke all franchises of bus operators who refuse to install electronic speed limiters on their vehicles, essentially making this piece of kit mandatory:
When I first arrived here, I was honestly shocked to learn that busses and trucks can generally do whatever they want. Back home in Germany, we have very strict regulations, with (newer) busses being limited to 100kph and trucks to 80kph while on the famous Autobahn. Anywhere else the maximum speeds allowed by law are even lower, and the rules governing drivers and vehicles are extremely strict. All busses and trucks are fitted with trip recorders and police can (and will) check if you have exceeded the set speed limits or allowed driving times when they stop you. The reasons behind these strict regulations should be clear: drivers are responsible for the lives of their passengers and no shortcuts can be tolerated when it comes to passenger safety, ever. Period.
We reckon if we can get at least 50,000 signatures on this, then there is a good chance to get this humble request passed into law in a relatively speedy manner. The office of Senator Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito even released a statement following this latest accident, saying that the lawmaker is very much in support of this measure and that he is hoping to push it through congress before proceedings are adjourned for the upcoming national election. Let’s help to keep this in the public spotlight and make sure the pressure on politicians to act swiftly remains high. The Speed Limiter Bill has been languishing in the halls of power for too long and too many people are still getting hurt on the streets of Manila and elsewhere as a result.
This isn’t just some random petition to save the native fluffy bunnies of Godknowswhereisthan – this is a realistic effort and first step in the right direction, so please help your fellow travelers by not only signing this petition, but by also sharing it with all your friends, so we can keep the pressure on and help in making the roads a little bit safer.
Help To Make Public Transport Safer By Signing This Petition Asking For Speed Limiters To Be Mandatory On Busses, Trucks And PUVs
