DOTr to meet with bus companies following fatal SCTEX crash

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) is set to meet bus companies on Friday to discuss concerns following the fatal crash on Subic–Clark–Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX).

DOTr Secretary Vince Dizon said around 27 companies have been summoned to a meeting scheduled at 2 p.m. to discuss causes of accidents and drivers who tested positive for drug use.

“Aalamin ko talaga. Tatapatin ko sila. Ano bang nangyayari bakit puro kayo aksidente, bakit puro na lang  mga nahuhuling positive sa drugs?” Dizon told Unang Balita in an interview.

(I will really find out. I will be honest with them. What is going on, why are you all having accidents, why are your drivers all testing positive for drugs.)

“Talagang didiretsuhin ko po itong bus companies natin kasi kapag hindi po tayo tumino-tino dito, hindi tayo nag-shape up dito ay pasensyahan talaga. Hindi lang po suspensyon ang aabutin nila dito,” he added.

(I will be direct with our bus companies because if they don’t get their acts together, if they don’t shape up, they will really be sorry. They will face not only suspension.)

On Thursday, 10 persons, including four children, were killed while more than 37 others were injured in a multiple-vehicle collision at the Tarlac City Toll Plaza on SCTEX.

Tarlac Provincial Police Office chief Police Lieutenant Colonel Romel Santos said a Solid North bus hit a van that was already in the payment queue at the toll gate.

The van then hit a compact SUV, which then crashed into the tractor head in front of it. The tractor head then hit another compact SUV in the payment line.

Santos said the bus driver has now been taken into custody. He said the bus driver claimed that he had dozed off behind the wheel.

The DOTr on Thursday ordered the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board to suspend the operations of Solid North Transit. —AOL, GMA Integrated News