Safety is in the details

Public safety was a new dimension  in the complaints about  flyovers when a Sports Utility Vehicle crashed into a divider in the Banilad-Talamban flyover in Cebu City on Saturday evening.

It’s a dimly lit area at night, and the lack of  signages or reflectorized signs meant less opporutnity to warn a motorist — or one under the strain of a natural 30 percent loss of night vision after sunset  –about a two-lane flyover  leaping over a four-lane highway.

A photo of the mishap, taken by a concerned citizen, made it to the Facebook account of the Movement for a Liveable Cebu and the front page of Cebu Daily News.  It was sent to traffic managers as well.

Not all facts are in — whether the driver was speeding, distracted by liquor, or simply unfamiliar with the terrain — but the incident does cast attention on a big oversight, something the Cebu City Traffic Operations Management (Citom) had been lamenting for some time.

The massive flyovers aren’t  finished pieces of work.

Built under the direction of the Dept. of the Public Works and Highways (DPWH), the  overpasses still need hazard signs and lane markings to guide motorists.

The Banilad-Talamban flyover isn’t the only one. The newest Mambaling flyover is bare as well.

Which is a grand irony because the cost of reflectorized stickers  is about P600 a strip  available at the local hardware store. Thermoplastic pavement markings go for P2,500 per meter.

The cost of a flyover is easily P200 million with another P100 million for requisite side roads and approaches.

According to Citom chairman Jack Jakosalem, each time the traffic group would ask the DPWH about the essential accessories, including wider side roads and street lighting, the answer would be, “Sorry, no budget.”

This  nonchalant attitude  to detail doesn’t speak well of a government  agency’s care  for its customers , the thousands of taxpaying motorists and commuters who use the flyovers.

In fact, if you look for the road maintenance budget of DPWH for Cebu City,  we are told the amount is an impressive zero.

DPWH Secretary Rogelio Singson said he would find time to come to Cebu City in November to hear for himself the public fuss over  flyovers.

While he was “shocked” to hear about a congressman’s dream of a series of seven flyovers in the city, the  Cabinet secretary has to be ready for more hair-raising feedback about the state of two-lane  monuments that seem to follow the philosophy: “If you build it, people will have no choice but to get used to it.”