The top transport authorities make sure that public transportation drivers implement and continue to practice defensive driving training programs despite the frequent recklessness that they are observed doing every day and at all times on various highways throughout the nation.
On the roadways, however, you notice something else. similar to the national embarrassment that was the Suero Bus tragedy in Bávaro, which resulted in five tourist fatalities and scores of injuries. According to the Public Ministry’s dossier, the motorist was acting “without prudence, in a negligent, reckless, dangerous and imprudent manner” while under the influence of cocaine. They also take into account the fact that “he was speeding and did not lower speed when he turned right.” Further evidence that the man tested positive for cocaine is provided by a toxicology report that was included with the request for coercive measures.
Additionally, it listed the numerous offenses they consistently commit, such as stopping in the middle of the road to pick up or drop off passengers and cutting across lanes to avoid crossing at crosswalks. Along with the hostile attitudes they exhibit every day. All of this gives the appearance that they do not respect traffic laws and are not afraid of the repercussions.
However, Antonio Marte, head of the National Confederation of Transportation (CONATRA), says that the union’s drivers receive training and go through a series of examinations that they must pass in order to be hired.
According to Antonio Marte, “Our case is that our drivers are undergoing anti-doping tests, taking their blood pressure, having their blood sugar levels checked, and all of these, but it is not that easy due to the expense, so the insurance, especially the anti-doping test, does not cover it.”
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To improve their performance when transporting passengers, he claimed that their affiliates regularly undergo defensive driving training from experts who work for them and training centers like the Technical Institute of Professional Training (Infotep).
He claims that transportation hubs who do not implement such measures do so for a variety of reasons because “people do not recognize that road education is necessary since the life of human beings is paramount.”
While Alfredo Pulinario (Cambita), the president of the Central Movimiento Choferil del Transporte (Mochotran), claims that the specialists at the National Institute of Transit and Land Transportation train his drivers (Intrant).
“It has been very successful that the driver has to go through a school,” said Cambita, indicating that his members are followed up. “In this course or in this defensive driving training they are given everything they need and it is explained to them that a driver while driving cannot talk on the phone, consume alcohol, or use any substance.”
They insist that mishaps will continue to occur. Nevertheless, despite running more than 168 routes around the nation, they have been modest in the case of Mochotran because, in his opinion, they are always being directed and consequences are used when errors are found.
Both businessmen agreed that Franklin Nin Pérez, the bus driver who was responsible for five tourists dying on this month’s sixth when the vehicle crashed in Bávaro’s Bulevar Turistico del Este, should face the appropriate punishment from the court system.
In this way, they disapproved of the protests organized by transport organizations in the Eastern region of the nation when Nin Perez was sentenced to a year of preventive detention as a form of coercion by the Special Peace Court of Transit of the Judicial District of La Altagracia.
The accused is also charged with reckless, irresponsible, and imprudent driving while under the influence of cocaine, according to the file.
The Sindicato de Choferes de Transporte Turstico de la Región Este (Sichotrature) kept a watch at the scene of the accident after being informed of the imposition of the coercive measure.
The bus was going towards Saona Island when Sichotrature’s secretary general, Tomacito Reyes, suggested canceling the trips this weekend. The measure was not, however, adopted.
