THE new child car seat law was stopped on its tracks but not after it got pelted with tons of criticisms by angry netizens.
For one, it lacked information dissemination. For another, it has provisions that are obviously impractical, if not utterly illogical.
Agencies tasked to inform the public of the new law’s implementation were brazenly remiss in their duties. Imagine enforcing its implementation without us being sufficiently briefed about the ruling’s nuances. Bottom line: Their failure to inform was a recipe for disaster.
Consider: The law says that 12-year-olds and below and standing 4-feet-11 and below must be harnessed on car seats.
When Tiang Amy Perez, during her ABS-CBN morning television program, told an LTO (Land Transportation Office) official surnamed Guinto that her son stands more than 4-feet-11 so that his head would hit the car ceiling when placed on the car seat, Guinto said: “You need to buy a bigger car, madam.”
Almost in an instant, Guinto was bamboozled by the public, many calling him stupid.
Guinto apologized, saying he said that only in jest.
Nice try, sir.
I like the car seat law, but only if it’s well-thought out before it gets implemented. Actually, the car seat law is long overdue here; it is being in force already worldwide for decades.
But in its present form, it has one loophole too many.
For example, many 12-year-old Filipinos today stand beyond 4-feet-11.
A prime example is Kai Sotto, our strongest bet to crash into the NBA.
He is only 18 but already stands 7-feet-3—the reason he was drafted last year at Ignite, an NBA team in the G-League. When Kai was 12, he was already more than 5-feet tall. Just imagine the height of his two younger siblings.
And why are they virtual skyscrapers?
Their father, Ervin Sotto, is 6-feet-7, and a former PBA player. Their mother is 6-feet-2, and a former volleyball player.
A decent car seat is pegged at from P6,000 to as much as P30,000. Quite a sum. What if there are three under-12 kids in the family? In these dire times, money is scarce.
Actually, the essence of the car seat law is to protect basically babies and toddlers in car crashes.
Perhaps, it’d be a bit wise if we lower the age to, maybe, seven years old and below?
I believe the seat belt will suffice as seven-year-olds are old enough to understand its usage.
Just a thought, of course. The thing is, there is need to revisit the law.
Skyway 3-NLEX
DON’T look now but San Miguel Corp. (SMC) has started work on a 1.2 kilometer road that will connect the 18-km Skyway Stage 3 to the ongoing 8-km NLEX connector project, a second elevated expressway that will further link the northern and southern parts of Metro Manila. The expressway project runs from C3 road all the way to Santa Mesa in Manila.
This, despite the pending right-of-way (ROW) negotiation that has delayed the construction of the vital link.
Here’s San Miguel Corp.’s Jon Hernandez again, expounding on the project.
“SMC President and Chief Operating Officer Ramon S. Ang said the company is ‘working on what’s workable’ in order to mitigate delays in ROW acquisition for the connection, located at the Nagtahan to Sta. Mesa areas in Manila.
“The connection, part of the detailed engineering design of the Skyway 3 project, can be completed within 24 months or less as soon as the ROW issues with the landowners are resolved,” Ang said.
“This connection is vital because it will link two major expressways, Skyway Stage 3 and the Metro Pacific Tollways’ connector road project–making accessibility, interoperability, and ease of travel even better for the public.
“According to Ang, ROW acquisition was the single biggest constraint to the Skyway Stage 3 project. While advance work was started in 2014, actual work on the main sections 1-4 only started in 2015, because of ROW issues.
“The alignment for this connection to the NLEX connector project, which the Metro Pacific Tollways Group is building, was supposed to be built together with Section 2 of Skyway 3 in the Nagtahan to Sta. Mesa area.
“However, about two years since we first worked on workable areas for Skyway 3, the ROW issue in section 2 threatened to stall the project. That is why we proposed to realign Skyway 3 along the San Juan River, so that the project could be completed faster and provide a solution to traffic—not cause more of it,” Ang said.
The man is simply commendably unstoppable.
PEE STOP The Isuzu Bacoor dealership will open shortly after the contract to operate was signed with Isuzu Philippine Corporation’s (IPC) top brass. Signing for IPC were president Hajime Koso and executive VP Shojiro Sakoda, and for Bacoor COO Alex Paguio and branch head Valance Mauricio.
Read full article on BusinessMirror
