Installation of safety impact tires eyed along Bokawkan

THE CITY Council approved on first reading a proposed ordinance installing safety impact tires as a last resort against brake failure along the walls of Buhagan, formerly Bokawkan road.

The same measure also urged the City Engineering office, in coordination with the Department of Public works and Highways (DPWH) and the city’s Transport and Traffic Management Committee, to study the possibility of installing safety impact tires and appropriating the amount of P300,000 for its study and implementation.

Authored by Councilor Lilia Fariñas, the proposed law stated the City Engineering office, the DPWH and the city’s TTMC will be required to study the possibility of installing safety impact tires as a last resort against brake failure along the feasible walls of the road.

The ordinance also warrants the creation of a technical working group composed of representatives from the City Council Committee on Public Utilities, transportation and Traffic Legislation, City Engineering office, DPWH-Baguio City District Engineering Office, TTMC, City General Services office, Baguio City Police Office – Traffic Management Branch, City Planning and Development Office, transport groups and other stakeholders to conduct a feasibility study, design the installation of said safety impact tires and do the necessary activities for its realization.

The ordinance noted that there had been numerous accidents that have transpired along Buhagan road and most of the time the involved vehicles are trucks that frequently suffer from mechanical trouble or lost brakes.

Fariñas explained given its treacherous terrain, there will always be a possibility of similar accidents from happening and therefore, there is a need for the local legislative body to enact measures that will help in preventing the loss of lives and inflicting damage to property.

Since brake failure is the primary cause of vehicular accidents along Buhagan road, the ordinance stipulated the installation of safe impact tires made of recycled or re-used tires or used tires is considered to be the last resort to lessen the impact of vehicular accidents to life and limb.

Re-used tires, if properly installed on feasible walls of Buhagan road, can be used by the driver to stall, slow down the vehicle and possibly bring it to a stop thereby minimizing the impact of the accident to life and limb, thus, the driver should his vehicle side on to the walls installed with the said safety impact tires when their brakes fail.

According to the proposal, the safety impact tires had commonly been used around and along the perimeter of race tracks as a precautionary measure against crashes.

The ordinance asserted local government units must exercise their power to ensure the health and safety of its citizens, among others, through worthy legislations, thus, the tires which would have been regarded useless and trash, could now be used for a very noble purpose of saving lives.