The effectiveness of the Anti-Drunk and Drugged Driving Law of 2013 in curtailing vehicular accidents as perceived by traffic enforcers of Iloilo City

Abstract

This Study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of the Anti-Drunk and Drugged Driving Act of 2013 as perceived by traffic enforcers of Iloilo City. It sought to establish the manner of implementing the Anti-Drunk and Drugged Driving Act of 2013. It likewise examined whether the actual enforcement of the Anti-Drunk and Drugged Driving Law was following the guidelines of the said law. This Study extracted qualitative data involving the perception of the traffic enforcers towards carrying out the provisions of the Anti-Drunk and Drugged Driving Act of 2013 through a Structured Interview. Results yielded that the lack of data by the Traffic Investigation and Enforcement Unit for drunk and drugged-driving incidents was attributed to the unavailability of alcohol breath analyzers to ascertain whether a person exceeded the required blood alcohol content and other testing kits to evaluate whether a person was under the influence of dangerous drugs. "There were also no data for repeat offenders for drunk-driving, persistent complainants of the Anti-Drunk and Drugged Driving Law and those who dropped the charges because the complainant and the perpetrator would just talk outside the premises of the Traffic Investigation and Enforcement Unit between and among themselves and whatever decisions they came up with, they did not come back to the office. Likewise, there were no statistics for deaths due to drunk and drugged driving because the traffic enforcers were not responsible for recording the data. There were no repeated offenders for drugged driving considering that there were also no first time offenders as “there were no pieces of equipment to check whether the said offender was really under the influence of dangerous drugs. There being no cases of drugged driving, no complainants existed and no charges to settle as well.”