Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief Vigor Mendoza II on Wednesday said the agency would push the creation of a law that would clearly define and penalize road rage incidents.
The LTO is doing its own study to define what road rage really is and what tough penalties could be enforced upon those who would get involved in such incidents, Mendoza said.
He lamented the penalties in road rage incidents “are not that tough,” especially if it did not result in death or injury of an individual.
“Even the penalty—we read the law—the penalty is quite prohibitive. We cannot impose a penalty higher than four years. There must be death or injury for a penalty of suspension or revocation for four years,” he said.
“If the road rage incident is serious, I think there is a special law… with a corresponding penalty that would not be just a simple violation of (Republic Act) 4136, reckless driving or improper person. If there is really a specific penalty, define it and penalize road rage incident,” he added.
He said LTO is also crafting a proposed law to be presented in Congress “as far as road rage incidents are concerned but we’re doing complete staff work first since it is still difficult to say, difficult to define.”
Road rage incidents have reached headlines since last month as two cases have been reported in Quezon City and Valenzuela City.
LTO swiftly acted on these incidents by issuing show cause orders to the drivers involved.
In the incident in Quezon City, Mendoza directed the license revocation for two years of dismissed policeman Wilfredo Gonzales in relation to his gun-toting act against cyclist Allan Bandiola.