By Tedler D. Depaynos, MD
From time to time we read in the newspapers vehicular accidents involving motorcycles. Sometime ago somewhere in Agoo, La Union, a speeding bus bumped a motorcycle with two young riders with no helmets trying to cross the highway causing their instant death. Recently, a similar accident occurred somewhere in Urdaneta, Pangasinan. There was a time that at least one accident per week involving a motorcycle was brought in the Emergency Room of one of our local hospitals for treatment. In Metro Manila, we commonly read in the daily newspapers and see on TV motorcycle accidents and if they were fatal they were usually given more than enough TV time with their relatives being interviewed crying as if their pitiful reactions are really needed to be shown nationwide. Not all the regrets, the profuse tears and the cursing would bring back these preventable tragedies and losses. What is mostly tragic is that when two parties are involved the less injured is routinely blamed or charged even though the cause is the recklessness of the seriously injured ones.
In almost all vehicular accidents, the parties involved would rarely admit their fault. You could often see them arguing to the extent that some could even be seen physically hitting each other only to seemingly quiet down when the uniformed peace keepers arrive. Their body language however would still betray their uncontrolled anger. When they realized that charging each other in court is more expensive and time consuming after a cooling period, some finally would settle. It is good if this involves only damage to their vehicles or merely physical contusions and scratches which occur more often between four wheel vehicles. But between a four wheel vehicle and a motorcycle, it is obvious that the motorcycle riding party is prone to incur the more serious damage.
The only protection of these two wheel riders are their helmets which sometimes they don’t even use and for some, their helmets are cheap “imitations” that break easily and do not really give adequate protection. Their exposed knees are their bumpers. Because of this undue disadvantage, these riders should be more circumspect in their driving.
Riding a motorcycle has a unique excitement. One could literally feel the wind and the speed and the thrill of overtaking even the flashy new cars which are held down at a slow pace by heavy traffic which is now common every day. The wild curving and the elation that one could easily cut off other vehicles add to the joy of gunning these two wheel vehicles. Some have their exhaust noise maximized to attract attention knowing very well that they are irritating the pedestrians. This precisely makes most of these motorcycle riders careless and makes them at risk.
The experience is enhanced when one has imbibed even a little of the “spirits”. After a late out night with some friends, going home with no apparent traffic in usually busy streets tempts one to maximize his speed, feel the cold air like a wind as the “spirits” make one high whether it’s a 2 wheel or 4 wheel vehicle one is maneuvering. Maybe this is the reason why most accidents presented in our TV screens usually occur towards or after midnight with the riders smelling cheap alcohol. It is good news that breathing analyzers would soon be available to test whether a driver has imbibed alcoholic beverages or not.
A motorcycle is relatively cheap. It is a family vehicle of some low income earners. It is convenient and very useful. In the lowlands, they are converted to tricycles, where they are seen everywhere crowding almost every street and even the highways where high speed vehicles traverse. But a motorcycle is intended for two riders only! There are times when you see a husband and a wife riding in tandem with a child in between them or sometimes one in front of the husband or one behind the wife. And most of the time, only the adults are wearing head protectors! As they overtake you, you could feel the risk they are exposed to especially the children riding with them. One can just imagine if the child would suddenly feel asleep.
Because of the high risk of riding motorcycles, the law enforcers should be stricter with them. There are signs in the streets where motorcycles are prohibited but still from time to time this is violated. Are the food or mail deliverers who appear to be always in a hurry exempted?
Perhaps a motorcycle lane should be provided especially in busy thoroughfares to prevent these reckless and careless riders from wildly curving left and right to the detriment also of the other vehicles. It is a rule that a space between vehicles is a must. This however is taken advantage of by most motorcycle drivers in their desire to overtake and beat traffic. Some are sometimes so aggressive and even arrogant that they think others have to give way to them. They feel that they are kings of the road! Hope this Christmas period would somehow make them realize this.
A seminar for those applying for a driving license should be required for it is obvious that one should overtake only on the left. For police officers seen stopping some of them to check their registration or license, perhaps it is also best to do it in unholy hours so they could also check their smell. And for those apprehended due to serious violations another seminar or suspension should be imposed to force them to be more traffic conscious.
This is not to say that all motorcycle drivers are reckless drivers. Nor will we say that all four wheel drivers are traffic conscious. Some four wheel drivers may be worse than motorcycle drivers causing fatal accidents. One could easily observe this as you drive along Kennon Road meeting or being overtaken by some hurrying vans with yellow plates being driven like crazy.
We would just like to emphasize that since the motorcycle riders appear to be more at risk, extra preventive measures are needed on their part.
Remember, prevention is always better than cure.**
