“New jeepney, old driver.”
A modern jeepney was spotted driving recklessly by counterflowing on a main road in Novaliches.
Automotive publication VISOR posted dashcam footage of a vehicle that encountered a modern jeep driving against traffic on the afternoon of Saturday, February 7.
The incident occurred near the Novaliches branch of the Land Transportation Office, the agency issuing driver’s licenses.
An individual inside a dashcam-equipped vehicle could not help but exclaim a profanity when a speeding public utility vehicle (PUV) approached them and then swerved into another lane to avoid a collision.
The post has amassed 310,000 views, 2,500 likes and reactions, 161 shares and nearly 500 comments from Facebook users, with some calling out the PUV driver’s recklessness.
“New jeepney, old driver,” an online user commented.
“Nasa driver talaga ang problema, regardless kung ano pang sasakyan ang dala niya,” another Pinoy said.
“Another modern jeep with an old way of driving,” a different Facebook user commented, tagging the LTO.
“You can take the driver out of the jeep, but not the jeep out of the driver,” another said.
PUV drivers, like traditional jeepney drivers, have earned a reputation for recklessness on the road due to their disregard for traffic rules. Some are known for speeding, cutting lanes and counterflowing.
The Land Transportation and Traffic Code prohibits reckless driving, which is defined as operating a motor vehicle “recklessly or without reasonable caution considering the width, traffic, grades, crossing, curvatures, visibility and other conditions of the highway and the conditions of the atmosphere and weather.”
The law also covers situations in which a driver maneuvers a vehicle “so as to endanger the property or the safety or rights of any person or so as to cause excessive or unreasonable damage to the highway.”
Counterflowing, the act of driving against the designated direction of traffic, is likewise prohibited and carries corresponding penalties.
In the Philippines, first-time offenders face a P2,000 fine and a three-month driver’s license suspension.
Only emergency vehicles are permitted to counterflow
