I once feared dying on board a speeding bus

By Alex P. Vidal

“There’s something about most phobias where there’s a tiny, tiny corner where you think this really actually could happen.”—Roz Chast

NEWS of the tragic death of 17 passengers and bus employees after a Ceres bus fell into a ravine in Hamtic, Antique on December 5, brought my sullen memories years ago when I was regularly traveling from Iloilo City to my hometown in San Jose, Antique as a kid.

The 76Express letter H bus I was riding on suddenly swerved while negotiating the perilous portion of the criss crossing Hamtic hilly highway sometime in 1979.

Luckily, the bus did not fall on the very deep ravine similar to where the Ceres bus fell in Brgy. Igbucagay, which Antique Governor Rhodora Cadiao had described as a “killer curve.”

But the bus got stuck in a menacing position and slithered to the narrow steep-sided valley when the machine had stopped.

Like a burning plane that just crash-landed, all the passengers, including the driver and conductor, elbowed each other as we hurriedly left the bus.

There was no casualty, but all the passengers, including me, were screaming at the top of their voices.

I was seated in the back next to the driver, I remembered to be a resident of San Pedro, Antique, and was so terrified that the horror stayed on my mind for so many years until my adult life.

It gave me a real phobia, the fear of riding on a running or speeding bus—day or night.

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The anxiety would haunt me several times especially when I travelled to Escalante, Negros Occidental from Bacolod City while riding on a Ceres Liner as a teener, and when I travelled to La Union and Baguio City on a Philtranco bus vice versa.

I always thought a similar incident I experienced with 76Express letter H would occur again. For many years, I feared dying while riding on a running bus with long distance trip.

I couldn’t or refused to sleep during those trips even if I closed my eyes. Seeing a bus driver talking to the conductor while the bus was speeding in the highways had also become my pet peeves.

I avoided the abnormal fear when I stopped riding on a bus during my adult life. And when I seldom traveled on a bus when I visited my relatives in Antique or attending conferences in Aklan and Capiz.

However, I noticed that when I boarded the plane in the 80s and 90s even to Cebu, Palawan, Cagayan de Oro City, and Manila, the phobia was back.

I thought riding on a speeding bus and “being trapped inside a flying object” was the same.

Especially when I made my first transatlantic flight where the plane experienced a long mid-flight turbulence, also known as air pockets, the moment when an airbus can experience a sudden loss of altitude temporarily.

Sadly, the irrational fear started in that tempestuous and frightful trip to Antique on board the now defunct 76Express letter H many years ago.

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INGREDIENTS. Human sperm has more than 30 ingredients. These include fructose, ascorbic acid, cholesterol, citric acid, nitrogen, vitamin B12 and a whole lot of salt and enzymes. If we don’t have enough money to buy vitamins in drug stores, let’s remember that the human body is the biggest drug store in the world.

LESSER SEX. Lovers in Singapore are the least amorous, having sex just 96 times a year–the only nation to dip below the magic 100 mark. No wonder they have a small population.

SPEED OF SENSATION. The maximum speed at which erotic sensations travel from skin to brain has been clocked at 156 miles per hour.

NON-VIOLENT. Socrates once said that we should not return violence or be violent to those who give us violence however strong the provocation. Yes, it’s better to engage our adversaries in intellectual battle and clobber them by exposing their ignorance in a non-violent manner. This could be the sweetest victory in any battlefield.

CATAGELOPHOBIA is the fear being ridiculed. Stay away from the bullies and those who have inclination to insult or verbally abuse us. Let’s avoid people who will only ridicule us and rob us of our enthusiasm and optimism. For it is better to be alone than to be in the company of wolves.

RONALD REAGAN once said, “I’ve noticed that everybody that is for abortion has already been born.”

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two daily newspapers in Iloilo.—Ed)