We made a long day trip to San Fernando, La Union from Manila and back. Out of curiosity, I made a tally of the vehicles that made us slow down from 40-80 km/h to 10-30 km/h in a national highway. Here are the breakdown:
Type of vehicle Manila to La Union La Union to Manila Average
1. Tricycles 43 40 41.5 (53% of total)
2. Jeep 1 2 1.5
3. kuliglig 1 2 1.5
4. trucks 16 15 15.5 (20% of total)
5. FX/van 2 3 2.5
6. buses 3 6 4.5
7. motorcycle (single) 6 10 8 (10% of total)
8. car 1 6 3.5
Total 73 84 78.5
An average of 78.5 vehicles has forced us to slow down per trip. We need to exercise caution in overtaking these slow vehicles as most portion of the national highways does not allow overtaking (double yellow line or busy oncoming traffic). More than half (53%) of road hazards of this type are tricycles along national highways. Trucks comes second as these comprised 20%. Motorcycles came third as 10% are motorcycles.
If you will multiply these number to the thousands of vehicles using the national highways that were compelled to hit the break and slow down, then accelerate again, you would get a fair idea of the fuel, break lining and time wasted. I can only surmise that the amount is huge. This unnecessary economic loss is more than enough to build another lane for slow moving vehicles along national highways, so these vehicles will not pose hazards to themselves and to other motorists. Aside from improving road safety, it will increase the efficiency of our roads, and the productivity of local businesses. Do we still need a more detailed study on this?
No comments:
Post a Comment