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LUCENA CITY, Quezon, Philippines ? Alarmed with the frequent road accidents along the Maharlika Highway, the Department of Public Works and Highways appealed to motorists heading home for the annual observance of All Saints' Day to observe safe driving and avoid turning the well-paved highway into a race track.
?With beautiful roadside sceneries, cruising the well-paved Maharlika Highway in a leisure and unhurried pace is relaxing to the passengers. But if the man behind the wheel chooses to run like race track driver, the result could be deadly and fatal,? Ronnel Tan, chief of the DPWH-Quezon 4th Engineering District said in an interview Tuesday.
A cursory look at the daily reports at the Quezon police files shows that road accidents along the Maharlika Highway?mostly involving passenger buses and motorcycles?occur with alarming regularity.
A week ago, three persons were killed and eight others were injured when two cargo trucks collided head-on in Atimonan town.
Last August, two passenger buses collided along the diversion road of the highway in the village of Domoit here. Nine bus passengers died on the spot and 40 others were injured.
Bonifacio Seguit, DPWH director in Calabarzon, recently ordered DPWH officials in Quezon to saturate the Maharlika Highway with added road signs, ?rumble strips? in strategic spots and accident-prone areas, and fresh luminous paint on concrete bridges.
He said the highway maintenance crews have already finished the repair of portions of the Maharlika Highway that were damaged by typhoon Ondoy.
The popular zigzag road between Pagbilao and Atimonan town had also been prepared for the influx of motorists including the painting and repainting of the centerline and edge-line, as well as steel and concrete railings, and the replacement of damaged railings.
?The roads are safe and well-maintained. Motorists should only have to follow road signs and directions for their own safety,? Seguit said.
The DPWH has activated its annual ?Motorists Assistance Program? to assist motorists during the four-day holiday.
The program involves the deployment of composite teams of DPWH personnel and mechanics who will respond to road emergencies.
The composite teams will be complemented by the government agency's equipment and service vehicles which can be utilized as tow trucks.
Tan said starting Friday until Monday (November 2), the DPWH teams will be stationed at their sub-office in Gumaca town, zigzag road junction in the village of Malicboy in Pagbilao, and at the DPWH bunkhouse along the Quirino Highway, the gateway to Bicol region.
Tan?s jurisdiction covers the long stretch of the Maharlika Highway from Pagbilao to Calauag town in the Quezon-Bicol boundary.
Tan appealed to the police and village officials to protect road signs from highway thieves for the safety of the motoring public.
The DPWH official cited reports that thieves have detached steel railings and road signs and sold these to junk shops.
Government data showed that the number of accidents across the country, many of them fatal, has increased by 30 to 40 percent.
Based from the records of the Highway Patrol Group (HPG), a total of 6,845 accidents had already been recorded from January to July most of them caused by ?over-speeding,? wrong overtaking, and bad turning.
