Accident prompts MMDA crackdown in ‘killer highway’

MANILA, Philippines—The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) is preparing to reevaluate its road traffic scheme on Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City following the accident that killed a veteran journalist and university professor there on Friday night.

“We will reintensify our efforts to improve our traffic system on Commonwealth. We will reevaluate the efficiency of our program as well,” MMDA Chair Francis Tolentino said Saturday in reaction to the death of Lourdes Estella-Simbulan, more popularly known by her professional name Chit Estella (not Estela, as earlier reported).

Tolentino also said the MMDA was offering a P100,000 cash reward for information that would lead to the arrest of the driver of the Guiding Star bus that rammed the cab Estella was riding in, killing her instantly. (The driver’s name is yet unknown; the name earlier reported, Vito Jugunos, not Jagunos, is that of the cab driver).

<strong>Bus franchise suspended</strong>

In Malacañang, President Benigno Aquino III’s deputy spokesperson Abigail Valte said a crackdown on erring bus drivers was “really needed.”

“We don’t want another person to die because of such things. I would imagine [MMDA] chairman Francis Tolentino would be reviewing what else can be done to the buses,” Valte said in a news briefing over government radio dzRB.

She also said the Department of Transportation and Communication was also giving inputs on how to prevent similar accidents.

Tolentino said he had coordinated with the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board for the suspension starting Sunday of the bus franchise, and would set a hearing next week.

Simbulan was on board a Toyota Vios taxi with Plate No. THX 532 on the westbound lane of Commonwealth when it was hit by the bus with Plate No. UVC 343 at around 6 p.m. on Friday.

<strong>2,000 accidents in 2010</strong>

“This is the first major accident that happened on Commonwealth since we implemented the new automated program in January,” Tolentino said.

Commonwealth is dubbed the “killer highway” because of the high occurrence of vehicular accidents there.

MMDA statistics show that in 2010, at least 21 people were killed while 608 others were injured in more than 2,000 accidents that took place on the highway.  This is almost 8 percent of the total number of road accidents that occurred in Quezon City in the same year.

Around 26,000 accidents happened in the whole of Quezon City, with 4,800 injuries and 150 fatalities in the same period.

<strong>Another bus involved</strong>

The MMDA started implementing a 60-kilometer-per-hour speed limit on the 12.4-km avenue on Jan. 25. Tolentino had earlier cited studies that 60 kph was the right speed for drivers to maintain their reflexes that in effect would minimize accidents.

An unknown speeding bus had nicked Estella’s taxi before it was rammed by the killer bus, police investigators said. The impact of the second crash pinned her to the back seat.

The Quezon City Police District is now hunting the two unidentified bus drivers, who both escaped after the fatal crash that killed Estella.

The first bus, with Plate No. TXH 352, quickly sped away after nicking the cab’s right side, according to a report by Senior Insp. Maximo Sabio of Traffic Sector 5.

Peligan said police were looking into the possibility that the two buses might have been racing against each other and that the drivers went beyond the 60 kph speed limit on the highway.

“We will check with the MMDA because they have the radars for that,” said Peligan, the head of the team tracking the two drivers.

Supt. Arnold Santiago, TEU chief, said both the driver and conductor of the Universal Guiding Star bus fled on foot after the incident, leaving the slightly damaged bus on the UP-Ayala Technohub sidewalk.

Earlier, police said only one bus was involved in the crash that killed Estella. She suffered head injuries so severe that she was declared dead on arrival at Malvar General Hospital by Dr. Monette Dulay.

Santiago said taxi driver Jugunos, 33, survived the tragedy and had narrated his recollection of the incident to police investigators. <strong><em>With reports from Norman Bordadora and Inquirer Research</strong></em>