Ten years ago today, I was driving at dusk to the hospital, where my father was confined. It usually took five to eight minutes to travel from our house to the hospital at that hour, traversing a highway that is 18 lanes wide.

But shortly after entering the main road, I was stuck. That was very odd. First, heavy traffic is on the opposite side at that hour, and second. any buildup in the approaching rotunda would not take long to clear.

Cars crawled, and as usual drivers would try to switch lanes hoping to move faster. I was drumming my fingers on the wheel, impatient to reach my destination where I was bringing soup to the patient for dinner.

After several more minutes, I saw the cause of the horrendous traffic. There was a cab, its rear end badly crumpled. As I inched closer to the site, I noted an ambulance and police cars.

Drivers stopping far longer to see what was happening during accidents annoy me so after several more feet and traffic cleared, I sped off. While the damage to the cab looked bad, I didn't think there was any fatality.

An hour or so later, I receive a call. It was one of my journalist-friends. Her voice cracked as she told me the tragic news.

Losing a friend

Her professional name is Chit Estella. She was one of the friends I made while covering the president. She's quite reserved, politically astute, and almost formal. She never talked nonsense, but she can be extremely funny trying to catch up with the trivial and inane. And she was among a group of four that became close even after Malacañang.

Since we all enjoyed food, we usually met up somewhere and had dinner and coffee afterwards to catch up. And because we lived near each other, and I had a car, it was my duty to bring Chit and another friend home afterwards. We had not gotten together for a while, and I later learned she was scheduling another food outing for us girls.

Chit died instantly. The bus, which was racing with another bus for passengers, slammed into the cab. The driver sped away after the collision. Witnesses later identified the bus to help the investigation.

Some were saying the cab was driving in reverse because it had missed the entry of the complex where Chit was headed to meet with high school friends.

Reports were conflicting as to what actually happened. Knowing the layout of the area, I surmised the cab, which came from the nearby university campus, made a U-turn but the distance between the slot and the complex entrance was very short (considering you had to cross at least seven lanes) and the driver might have overshot thus his decision to back up some.

What traffic rules?

Here's the crazy thing about traffic in this country - there are practically no rules. Well, yes there are, but drivers, especially of public utility vehicles are foolish enough to ignore them and usually cause accidents.

In that specific area where the Chit's cab was rammed, the bus stop is so close to the entrance that bus drivers would often block the entryway. But in instances where passengers are few and far between it's no surprise that these same buses race each other to the next stop.

(Just to paint a picture for those unfamiliar with the Philippine bus system, bus drivers and conductors are not paid regular salaries. Instead, they have a daily quota called 'boundary' and anything over and above that amount is their take-home pay.

So it isn't hard to grasp why drivers would race each other to get more passengers, and why they fill their vehicles to the brim - think a can of sardines packed full, and you get an idea how inconvenient it is to take a bus.)

There is another U-turn slot about half-a-kilometer away, which is safest to take if going to the complex. If the cab took that route, that accident may have been avoided.

At the time of the tragedy, there wasn't any speed limit for that highway. And buses, especially when wanting for passengers, are known to fly through that roadway to beat competition.

Sending a message?

Back to the phone call...

Recalling the ambulance I saw as I passed by the accident site, my legs turned to jelly. Chit was still there when I drove by and I had no idea it was her.

Making it even more eerie, when I scrolled through my phone I find a message from her! The timestamp on the message was around the time of her accident, and in it she was asking when we could go out.

Whether she sent that text or not, it was probably her way of saying goodbye.

Her death was big news. She was a known journalist after all, and in truth, that accident shouldn't have happened, if traffic rules were strictly observed and enforced.

To honor Chit, her death became a poster case for road safety. A speed limit of 60 kilometers per hour was imposed along that highway. And changes to traffic flow and enforcement were implemented.

The real tragedy, however, is that to this day, the criminal case filed against the bus company has yet to be resolved. Imagine 10 years and no one is still held accountable for her death.

The bus company is insisting it was the cab driver's fault, and the other bus driver's fault. It was never theirs. When her case will finally be resolved, no one knows.

In the meantime, a dear friend, a law-abiding citizen, an activist, a respected professor and an award-winning journalist was taken away from this world when that accident shouldn't have happened at all.

Lead image: unsplash