It looks like the Department of Transportation and its connected agencies will be forced to postpone the implementation of RA 10913 or the Act Defining and Penalizing Distracted Driving. Senators JV Ejercito and Nancy Binay have stepped in (JournalOnline, 22 May), knocking some sense into the DOTr’s over-interpretation – if not power trip – which will allow them to penalize drivers for even taking a drink from a coffee tumbler, or having rosaries hanging on their rearview mirror, or air fresheners on their dashboards.

Essentially, RA 10913 only penalizes the use of mobile and digital devices while driving, i.e., having it in your hands when you should have those hands on the wheel, reading or writing a text message when your eyes should be on the road. But Senator Binay says it best about the DOTr’s IRR: “Parang kung saan-saan na napunta.”

Thankfully, there is enough katangahan in the IRR for it to be stopped – if not for us to protest and resist being penalized based on it.

More importantly, it has highlighted the question of distractions, what that means for drivers, and what else we should be blaming for road mishaps.

I’ve got my line of sight on those billboards. (more…)