Following the rising number of highway mishaps involving speeding public utility vehicles, Senator JV Ejercito filed a proposed Senate bill that will mandate the installation of a device called speed limiter to all public utility buses. Sen. Ejercito said the proposed Senate Bill 2110, dubbed as the “Electronic Speed Limiter Act of 2014,” hopes to prevent overspeeding of all city and provincial buses, thus, ensure the safety of passengers and commuters. Records show that most of bus accidents in the country are related to speed limit violations, among which happened last December 16, 2013, when a Don Mariano Transit bus sped its way off the Skyway and landed on the southbound lane of the South Luzon Expressway in Parañaque City. This Skyway mishap claimed the lives of 21 passengers and motorists and injured eight other people. “To protect the citizens from these accidents and pursuant to the duty of the State to ensure protection and safety of the riding public, this bill is proposed to implement the mandatory installation of electronic speed limiters to public utility buses in order to strictly enforce the speed limit provided by law. Installing speed limiters will facilitate the reduction of serious crashes and other road accidents involving commercial buses which are not only causing fatalities but also damage to properties,” Sen. Ejercito said. The senator said we should have a more proactive and preventive approach to secure the safety of passengers and bystanders on roads and highways. A speed limiter is a device which limits the top speed of a moving vehicle to a pre-programmed maximum speed per hour. The device has series of sensors that will detect the speed and communicate the information to the engine’s computer. Once the pre-determined top speed is reached, the computer steps in and restricts the flow of air and fuel to the engine and it will unable to exceed the maximum speed. Sen. Ejercito said the installed speed limiter will be programmed at a maximum 60 kilometers per hour for public utility buses traversing EDSA and a maximum of 80 kilometers per hour for those traversing expressways. Also, part of the plan to ensure the safety of passengers and commuters is to install closed circuit television (CCTV) inside the city and provincial buses to serve as “black box,” wherein investigators can review the CCTV in case an accident happen. (END)   PRESS RELEASE REFERENCE: RIKKI MATHAY