ENDEAVOR

On Thursday, May 1, 10 persons, including four children, were killed and more than 37 others were injured in a multiple-vehicle collision at the SCTEX Tarlac City toll plaza. Three days later, on Sunday, May 4, two persons, a five-year-old girl and a 29 year-old Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW), were killed at the departure area of NAIA Terminal 1.

In a taped message to the nation, President Marcos said: ”These incidents should never have happened. And now, we will ensure they never happen again.”

He cited three action measures: First, a “review of driver licensing to ensure that only fit, capable, and responsible individuals—whether driving public or private vehicles—are allowed on our roads; Second, “a nationwide audit of bus operators, with clear sanctions for those who fail to comply with safety and maintenance standards; and Third, “a directive to the Department of Labor (and Employment) to crack down on unsafe and exploitative practices in the transport sector—because driver fatigue, long hours, and pressure to meet quotas should never put lives at risk.”

These twin events have triggered a wave of citizen indignation and concern that, hopefully, would lead to meaningful reforms designed to improve safety in transportation facilities and equipment.

Having travelled only last month, my family had contrasting experiences at the NAIA, at the JFK airport in New York City and at the Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina that we used in flying back to NYC for our return flight to Manila.

In the eighties, I worked with Pantranco North Express, Inc., then a subsidiary of the state-owned Philippine National Bank, and, at that time the biggest transportation company in the country. I recall that its fleet of more than a thousand buses was modernized and replaced by German-made M.A.N. buses equipped with tachographs. According to the European Commission’s Mobility and Transport unit, “a tachograph is the device that records driving time, breaks and rest periods as well as periods of other work and availability of drivers engaged in the carriage of goods or passengers by road.”

According to initial investigation reports, a Solid North bus crashed into two other vehicles ahead of it that had slowed down at the Tarlac toll plaza exit, prompting calls for probing into what may have caused a major lapse in the driver’s state of alertness. The fatalities included the parents of a two-year old child riding a car, and passengers of a van that was sandwiched between the car and the bus.

In a newspaper story, one passenger, Robert Viernes, who was seated near the back of the bus, described the moments before the crash: “Prior kasi ng insidente, OK naman 'yung takbo namin and then bago dumating ng toll gate ng exit ng SCTEX, narinig namin is nagpreno 'yung bus and then 'yun sumalpok na, then lahat kaming nasa bus is bumalibag na talaga. Tapos may mga upuan na natanggal dahil sa lakas ng impact.” (Before reaching the toll plaza exit, we heard the braking of the bus, then the bus crashed and we were all dislodged; some seats went off the floor due to the strong impact.)

In the case of the NAIA crash, James Deakin, a media events host, automotive journalist, video blogger, and motoring editor, wrote on Facebook, “What do you notice in this photo that might have contributed to the ‘slip’,” implying that the driver who was shown in a screen-grab photo, as he was being held by an airport policeman, was wearing slippers. 

Research shows that: “It is generally considered inappropriate to wear slippers when driving due to safety concerns. Slippers can easily slip off the foot or get caught under the pedals, potentially causing unintended acceleration, braking, or other dangerous maneuvers. While it might not be explicitly against the law, the risk to both the driver and others outweighs the convenience of wearing slippers while driving.”

From a reportage perspective, the language used in reporting these twin event also needs to be analyzed.

Years ago, while teaching an elective on Management Communication to MBA students at the Asian Institute of Management (AIM), I came across a book entitled Global Disasters: Inquiries into Management Ethics by Robert E. Allinson who had been a Visiting Fellow at Oxford University’s Center for Management Studies). Professor Allinson was a member of the Graduate Faculty and the Department of Philosophy at the Chinese University of Hong Kong for 27 years until 2004. His last known academic posting was at Soka University of America in Vallejo, California.

Three case studies were discussed extensively, namely: the Challenger disaster in 1986 in which seven astronauts were killed when their space vehicle exploded 73 seconds after being launched in Cape Canaveral, Florida; the King’s Cross Underground fire in London in 1987 that killed 31 persons in the busiest station of the city’s mass transport system; the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster that killed 193 persons when the roll on/roll off ferry sank within a span of five minutes off the coast of Zebrugge, Belgium; and the crash of Air New Zealand’s DC10 airliner that plunged in broad daylight against the side of Mount Erebus in the Antartic, killing all 257 passengers.

Professor Allinson examined thoroughly — and debunked eventually —the popular notion that major disasters are unavoidable, or ineliminable due to human error. On the contrary, he asserted that, invariably, there are, in fact, “systemic management factors” that could be pinpointed as the actual trigger for such disasters. The book, published more than three decades ago, provides more than ample proof that, indeed, so-called “accidents” don’t just happen; these are caused by people’s ineptitude or negligence.

Assailing the common notion of monocausality, or “isolated events,” he said: “The reason why it is important to fully appreciate the systemic origin of any particular cause is that one way of initiating a change in how one approaches disaster is to look for the systemic causality in addition to the particular causation of any particular element of that system.” 

He uses a down-to-earth example: a mother awakening to the sound of her baby’s crying. Even while sleeping, the mother must be in a heightened state of alertness, so as not to lapse into deep sleep, or even stupor; instead she must be ready to respond to the cause of the baby’s crying, be it hunger or thirst or some other basic discomfort or pain. 

The nation awaits the outcome of remedial actions and reforms that will be implemented to ensure people’s safety in public transportation vehicles and facilities.

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