‘Skyway needs taller, stronger barriers’

MANILA, Philippines—A day after a shuttle van for Skyway employees fell off the elevated expressway, the head of a watch group monitoring government infrastructure projects called for the installation of higher and stronger guardrails.

“Based on past accidents…, we can see that the steel rail guards do not have the height and the strength to prevent vehicles from falling down. In short, they are there only for decorative purposes,” Citizens Infrastructure Integrity Watchdog (Infrawatch) executive director Ricardo Ramos said in a statement issued on Monday.

In a followup interview, he told the Inquirer: “When the vehicle hits the barrier, it should not fall off.  The barriers have proven ineffective. The government has failed to require the Skyway [management] to come up with railings that can protect lives.”

At 5:15 a.m. on Sunday, a mini-coaster owned by Skyway O&M Corp. was hit from behind by a Toyota Fortuner on the expressway’s southbound lane. Due to the impact, the driver of the coaster lost control of the vehicle, which crashed through the road guardrails. It fell from the Skyway and landed on a waiting shed on the West Service Road, near a condominium building in Barangay (village) Sun Valley, Parañaque City. The driver of the coaster and a passenger of the Fortuner were injured and taken to a hospital for treatment.

The accident happened months after a speeding Don Mariano Transit Corp. bus plunged off the elevated expressway on Dec. 16, killing 21 people.

Infrawatch estimated that the Skyway guardrails were only 0.5 meters high. According to the group, the steel barriers should be at least 1.5 meters high to prevent tall vehicles like buses, trucks and vans from falling off the road.

Taller is better

“The height of a Toyota Innova is around 1.75 meters and the height of a bus or truck is double that at around 3.5 meters. [This is why] elevated expressways or viaducts should have safety steel guard railings and concrete barriers of at least 1.5 meters or five feet high,” said Ramos who has a background in engineering and construction.

“In other countries, the barriers are higher, from two to three meters, like those at Crni Kal viaduct in Slovenia,” he pointed out.

He criticized the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for failing to “come up with safety standards even after these accidents, whether in Bontoc, Mountain Province or at the Skyway on top of SLEx.”

Last month, a Florida passenger bus veered off the road and into a ravine in Bontoc town, killing 15 people.

But an official of the government agency in charge of supervising and regulating the construction, operation and maintenance of toll facilities said they were already looking at possible measures to ensure safety on the Skyway.

In a phone interview on Monday, Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) spokesman Julius Corpuz told the Inquirer that the agency was holding meetings with agencies and technical experts to determine if the expressway’s barrier design needed to be improved.

He added, however, that there was no definite decision yet on what measures would be taken as the TRB was waiting for the recommendations of the technical experts.

“We are not saying [that] there is a flaw in the design [which] was determined to be in conformity with international standards set by the DPWH. We just want to enhance the safety of the parapet walls,” Corpuz clarified.

The TRB’s road safety consultant, former Land Transportation Office and Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board head Alberto Suansing, was set to meet this week with officials of Skyway O&M Corp.,  Skyway contractor DM Consunji Inc. and DPWH to discuss possible changes to Skyway barriers.

Driver problems

But Suansing, when reached for comment, said the immediate solution was simply “to address driver behavior.”

“By all indications, the problem was with the [Fortuner’s] driver,” Suansing said, adding that the footage taken by a security camera showed the SUV slowly veering toward the coaster and eventually colliding with its rear.

“As far as the design of the parapet is concerned, it’s not unique to the Skyway. You will notice the same design in all flyovers in Metro Manila. It’s standard and high enough because the DPWH adhered to international standards. The problem is, the drivers’ behavior is still Philippine standard,” Suansing said in a phone interview.