Angry over the recent bus accidents that left many people dead, President Arroyo on Tuesday ordered the transportation department to implement urgent measures, including random drug testing of drivers, to prevent such deadly vehicular mishaps.

The President also called for an urgent dialogue among public transportation groups, private motorists, passengers and other stakeholders to draw up stricter road safety plan.

Mrs. Arroyo, in a statement read by Press Secretary Cerge Remonde, said she was “very angry” and concerned over the bus crashes in roads in Metro Manila and other provinces in recent weeks which she claimed could have been avoided.

She said many of these bus accidents, often blamed for excessive speed and poor maintenance of vehicles, were “fatal” including that involving a mother and a child and the incident that took place in Lucena, Quezon that killed eight people and injured more than 40 others.

“I would like to express my very serious concern about these incidents and I am very angry because of the unnecessary loss of lives. It is really sad to lose lives especially of loved ones to this kind of accidents that could be prevented,” she said.

“I am personally calling a dialogue of the stakeholders and I have given instructions to Leandro Mendoza of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC) to immediately effect necessary prevention measures,” she added.

Remonde, in a phone interview, said the President also asked the DoTC to hold random drug testing of public transport drivers plying the roads. He said the President was concerned by reports that many of bus drivers are under the influence of illegal drugs.

On the planned dialogue on the bus accidents, he said the President will invite operators and drivers of public utility vehicles, civil society, and other concerned groups to a meeting in the Palace very soon.

After holding a Cabinet meeting in Sarangani province, the President made an unannounced trip to Lucena City to attend the wake of the victims of a head-on collission of two buses in the area.

Remonde said the President personally extended her condolences to the family of the victims who perished from a bus mishap.