Police recommends deploying personnel to monitor SRP tunnel

This is the scene of the accident in the southbound lane of the SRP tunnel. A 26-year-old woman died while seven others were injured when an SUV rammed into parked motorcycles with riders who were taking shelter from the heavy rain late Thursday night, December 10, 2020. | Photo from Cebu Ni Bai

CEBU CITY, Philippines – The chief of the Cebu City police wants personnel to be deployed within the vicinity of the South Road Properties (SRP) tunnel to ensure that no vehicles will be stopping or parking along the freeway.

This developed after a late-night accident on Thursday, December 11 in the SRP tunnel involving a sports utility vehicle (SUV) and six motorcycles claimed the life of a 26-year-old woman.

“We are recommending to the Traffic Enforcement Office to deploy officers to reprimand motorists stopping inside the tunnel,” said Police Lieutenant Colonel Wilbert Parilla, Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) deputy director for operations.

Parilla said freeways such as the SRP tunnel are not designed for motor vehicles to stop or park.

They also advised motorists to avoid parking and stopping along highways especially during nighttime.

“Supposedly, you are not to park or standby inside tunnels because these are dangerous. You have less visibility especially when it rains. There’s a designated area in the tunnel for emergency parking where they can standby,” said Parilla in Cebuano.

An SUV rammed into six motorcycles on the southbound lane of the SRP tunnel past 11 p.m. on Thursday, killing Stephanie Hetutua, 26, a data analyst and a resident of Minglanilla town in Cebu.

Hetutua was a passenger on one of the motorcycles the SUV crashed onto.

Seven others, who are drivers and passengers of the motorcycles, suffered injuries. Four of them were rushed to the hospital for further treatment. /rcg

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