By VJ Bacungan
The video starts in the back seat of a Toyota Innova that is stopped at an intersection behind a white Hyundai Tucscon.
“Five, four, three, two, oneeeeee!” exclaims one female passenger, as she follows the countdown of the stoplight.
As the light turns green, laughter erupts as the Innova goes after the Tucson. A popular Filipino rap song blares in the speakers as the multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) easily hurtles past 100 km/h, which is the speed limit on all national expressways.
But they are not on the wide tarmac of, say, the North Luzon Expressway – they are on a four-lane national highway in the dead of night, with traffic going in the opposite direction. Ironically, the interjections of the passengers to the young man driving the Innova should have been cues for him to let off the throttle.
“Mabigat, mabigat tayo [It’s heavy, we’re heavy], guys,” says the female passenger. “Tokyo Drift!” says another female passenger, referring to the popular illegal street racing movie: Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.
As the two cars reach a section of the road with a cement center barrier, the Tucson quickly jumps into the right lane to avoid a slow-moving truck – like a boxer ducking away from an opponent’s deadly jab.
The Innova follows suit, with cackling and loud singing adding to the intensity of the atmosphere. But the MPV driver misjudges the width of a narrowing bridge and slams into the gutter.
The camera drops to the floor as crashing is heard soon after. The music goes silent, replaced by the pained screams of the passengers.
“Sakit [It hurts]!” says one female passenger. “Help, nasa ilalim ako [I’m stuck underneath],” says another female passenger, in between moans of agony.
CCTV footage shows the Innova going up on two wheels before hurtling down an embankment.
A post on social media calls for donations for one of the female passengers, who needs a leg operation.
A deadly trend
The Innova crash is the latest in a growing and highly disturbing trend among younger drivers on social media – going fast on public roads and flaunting it online.
TikTok and Instagram is full of such content from abroad, with drivers in the U.S. taking their cars well beyond the speed limit, weaving between cars that look like they’re standing still. And moments before the November 2023 crash in Antipolo City that killed four boys in a speeding Honda Civic, there were videos of them driving recklessly on a mountain road.
This insane form of online “clout chasing” (which refers to gaining praise or “clout” for doing something crazy) has truly lethal consequences. The World Health Organization (WHO) said in its 2018 Global Status Report on Road Safety, that road crashes were the top killers of road users aged 5 to 29.
In fact, over 1.35 million people a year are killed in road crashes, making it the eighth leading cause of death globally, beating out diarrheal diseases and tuberculosis. And all of this senseless death is entirely preventable.
Everyone’s responsibility
Although many would put the blame entirely on the reckless driver’s shoulders, it isn’t as simple as a “lack of discipline.”
Republic Act 4136 or the “Land Transportation and Traffic Code” clearly states the speed limits on various roads in the country. In the case of the four-lane highway that the Innova was driving through, the speed limit would have been 80 km/h.
But who enforces this? Most provincial highways don’t have a brigade of speed cameras and patrol officers like in privately owned expressways.
And it’s not as if motorists wouldn’t comply – Commonwealth Avenue once held the unholy reputation of being the Philippines’ “Killer Highway” for the numerous road crash deaths there, largely as a result of speeding.
But since the grisly death of U.P. journalism professor Chit Simbulan in a road crash on May 2011, the government imposed a 60 km/h speed limit on the thoroughfare. Clear signs and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority enforcers armed with speed guns have ensured that the bad, old days of triple-digit driving on Commonwealth are well and truly done.
Better driver training, combined with strict enforcement, would benefit us all on the road – even the “clout chasers.”
