Tunnel vision

It’s way too late to be wondering why the SRP tunnel lacks directional signs.

Thousands of motorists have been making the daily commute through this P1.2-billion subway since it was opened with much fanfare in June last year.

To hear officials now comment, almost innocently, that there are no traffic signs in the passageway to warn drivers of a sharp bend underground is a not-too-subtle sidestep away from admitting gross negligence or, at least, a common sense grasp of road safety.

Why has the absence of life-preserving directional signs gone uncorrected for months?

It took Tuesday’s death of a truck driver, who rammed his soft drink delivery truck into another truck in the tunnel, to revisit an unresolved safety issue.

The 1.3-kilometer subway dips downward and brings motorists through a sharp curve as they navigate the tunnel in soft yellow orange light.

If a driver isn’t vigilant, one’s vision could be tricked by the illusion of a clear path ahead with no vehicle in front to spoil the view.

Signboards at the mouth of the tunnel in Cebu City, the kind used for roadwork in progress, say “40 kilometers per hour” and “one lane only.”

That’s all.

Witness reports said Florindo Piña, the hapless driver, was overspeeding as he entered the north-bound lane last Tuesday and crashed into the truck up ahead just as he went through the curve.

It’s not the first time an accident occurred in the tunnel but Tuesday’s rush hour tragedy resulted in a six-vehicle collision that could have cost more lives.

The tunnel was shut down for a whole day to clear the wreckage. When it was reopened at 4:30 p.m. yesterday, nobody bothered to put up new signs. When do we ever learn?

The smoothly paved wide lanes in the South Coastal Road and the tunnel bring out speed demons in the best and worst of drivers.

And when it rains, the congestion in the tunnel with vehicles tailgating each other on wet roads irrespective of the state of maintenance of a vehicle’s brakes can be a frightening experience.

While the project was executed by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), the users and traffic enforcers are locals. There’s no need to wait for the DPWH to “turn over” the project to the Cebu City government before taking action.

What we should see, if we care about road safety enough, are law enforcers in full uniform chasing down traffic violators.

We should see prominent signages inside and outside, alerting tunnel users of all the precautions they need to know to come out in one piece.

Authorities should pursue this with as much fanfare as that shown when President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo made that ceremonial drive through the SRP tunnel on the back of a pickup truck with Michael Rama, who is now Cebu City mayor, by her side.